[sacw] sacw dispatch (24 Dec.99)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch
24 December 1999
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#1. Concern at foundation of Hindu temple in Christian village in India
#2. Letter from a secular activist in Bombay
#3. The End of Virginity: a comment from India
#4. Pakistan's 'Finance' Newspaper Workers on Strike need support
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#1.
23 December 1999

United Christian Forum for Human Rights
CBCI Centre 1 Ashoka Road New Delhi 1100092 =20
National Convenor: John Dayal
Ph: 2722262, 2726582 Mobile 9811021072
Email: johndayal@v...

22 December 1999 =20
Concern at foundation of Hindu temple in Christian village in tense Halmodi
Village, Surat (Gujarat)
Government will be responsible for all consequences =20

PRESS STATEMENT =20
(Following is the press statement issued by John Dayal, National Convenor,
UCFHR on the reported permission given by the district authorities of Surat
to allow the laying of the foundation of a temple in the Halmodi village)
New Delhi, 22nd December 1999:
The Christian community in the small village of Halmodi in the Vyara
Taluka of Gujarat's Surat district has in the last two days watched in
disbelief and with deepening fear the negotiations between the district
officials and the leaders of various organisations of the Sangh Parivar,
particularly the Hindu Jagran Manch on the laying of the foundation,
shilanayas, in the proximity of their own place of worship.
The site has been chosen in cold deliberation. It is quite obvious that
the purpose of those planning the shilanayas is not worship, but to strike
terror in the heart of the minority communities, particularly the tribals
of this region.
The nation will hold the government of Gujarat singularly responsible for
all consequences. The Central government can also not abrogate its
responsibility in the matter. The National Democratic Alliance government
must fulfill its Constitutional obligations to ensure communal peace and
harmony in the country.
The strident and provocative statements by leaders of the Sangh Parivar
have amply shown this. Such statements have also been made by those who
are indicted in the violence of December 1999 in which dozens of churches
of the tribal people were burnt or demolished. Pamphlets and hate
literature have been freely distributed in various parts of Gujarat, and
specially in the Dangs district. The Christian community, traumatised in
the violence during Christmas last year, is now confined to their houses,
fearful of the developments. Christians in the village are nervous and
apprehensive.
Ironically, the state authorities are trying to browbeat the minority
community. Pressure is being brought on Christian leaders to say that they
agree to the Shilanayas. Christian leaders in Surat and Ahmedabad have
refused to sign such statements. The district authorities have bowed to
political coercion. This historic blunder establishes a dangerous
precedence which, we fear, may have serious consequences and will injure
the secular fabric and the plural traditions of India.

______________
#2.
23 December 1999
Letter from a secular activist in Bombay

In the context of delegation of concerned citizens meeting the Chief
minister of Maharashtra and urging him to take action on the
recommendations of Justice Shrikrishna the allegation that secularists are
biased defies all the logic. When the delegation went on to meet the Chief
Minister they demanded the action based on Shrikrishna Report. The report
covers both the riots and the serial bomb blasts which followed the same.
The report does implicate the likes of Dawood Ibrahim and Memon brothers.
"it appears that Tiger Memon was the prime accused co-ordinating the
smuggling activities and supervising the implementation of the conspiracy
from Bombay."(ShriKrishna Commission Report, Page45).The citizens concerned
with upholding the secular values went for seeking justice as unless the
inquiry commission report's findings are taken proper action upon, we will
not only be letting the guilty get away with their crimes but also they
will get a clear message that they can repeat the same with impunity.

To cast aspersions on the meticulous and profound work done by a forthright
judge who also happens to be a pracising Hindu, probably more so than many
of those casting aspersions on his report, is a motivated exercise.He has
implicated both Hindus and Muslims as per their share in the crime. "From 7
December 1992=8Alarge mobs of Muslims came on the streets and there was
recourse taken to violence without doubt..(T)he Muslim mobs appear to have
come out with the intention of mounting violent attacks as noticed from
their preparedness with weapons of violence."(Vol.I,page 10) Implicating
some Muslims and some Hindus does not make it either anti-Hindu or Anti
Muslim.It has scathingly attacked the Shiv Sena for its role in the
anti-Muslim pogrom unleashed in Mumbai in 92-93 thats why politically
motivated people and their cohorts are calling it anti Hindu. Any careful
reading of the report will make the truth dawn upon us that it is a
brilliant and honest document. But probably to those who see the society
through communal lenses, it may sonud anti this that and the other.
Surprisingly despite the fact even Muslims have been named in the report
many a organisations belonging to them are calling for action around its
findings, while votaries of Hindutva and Shiv Sena are trying to seek a
shelter for their misdeeds by labelling the report as anti Hindu as if they
THE representative of all the Hindus, which they are NOT.

Ram Puniyani
______________
#3.
Outlook
27 December 1999
http://www.outlookindia.com/19991227/opiniontanuja.htm

WOMEN
The End of Virginity

By Tanuja Chandra

IN 1993 something was cooking in Turkey and it wasn=92t exactly Turkish
Delight. A report was being prepared by a human rights group on a terrible,
widespread practice: "virginity exams". These were forcibly performed by
the police on women in their custody, by state officials on women applying
for government jobs and by families on prospective brides. The future of
these women depended upon whether their hymen was intact or not and the
state participation in this humiliation of women only further legitimised
the social and legal norms of the country that had always maintained a
strict control over the behaviour of its women. This absolute invasion of
women=92s privacy, this atrocity was prevalent for years before it was
outlawed by the Turkish government only as recently as January this year.
But whether this law will be enforced or not is anybody=92s guess!

The entire world is feverishly preparing for the biggest party ever, the
most glitter and confetti-laced global event supposed to throw us into the
arms of the brave new world of the new millennium and we still haven=92t
grown up about sex. In such diverse nations as China, Italy and India,
female virginity is considered a matter of family honour, an invaluable
Ming vase to be jubilantly broken to pieces only by the husband! The
natural sexual urge in a woman is of little importance and if anything to
be suppressed and, curbed, like a bad habit.

It is insane to fixate on virginity. An increasingly large number of
Indian women are ceasing to do so. About 50 years ago, the interaction
between men and women was limited mostly to a few relationships:
husband-wife, father-daughter, mother-son, bhabhi-devar on the one hand and
lover-nautch girl on the other. Today the social bridge has broadened to
include many more kinds of relationships in the workplace and the social
circuit. And even though the social bridge of pre-marital sex remains quite
strong and cannot be bypassed easily, we have begun to at least speak about
it instead of childishly pretending that it just doesn=92t exist.

Despite this, by and large the fear and ignorance surrounding sex in our
country, especially among the middle class, is so vast that the general
belief is that a man gathers vitality by sowing his wild oats while a woman
only loses her crystal-pure innocence by "opening her legs" before marriage
and becomes an awful symbol of an emotionally scarred and sagging youth!
While virginity has been almost a non-issue for the larger population of
the lower and upper class Indian women, it=92s the middle-class woman who ha=
s
always placed a premium on it.

Recently, however, many middle-class women have somewhat started relaxing
about it, at least secretly. I find that in the last 7-10 years most of the
young, urban women I=92ve met have been single but not virgins. Mostly
working women, some hide the fact while many don=92t even bother to do that.
They don=92t feel that something precious has been robbed from them nor do
they feel guilty about "defiling" some "sacred" part of them. Many want to
marry the men they have sex with but if for some reason they don=92t end up
doing that, they are sane enough to know that their sexual expression was a
natural urge in their bodies, a healthy sign of vitality, and certainly not
an aberration.

I think many of them would even feel it might be 'sinful' not to take a
relationship that makes them feel the exhilaration of love to its extreme
expression of intimacy. And just for a few minutes if we all stop to think
about it, and ask ourselves a simple question-can the life-giving act of
sex, the human behaviour because of which the likes of you and I and
Gandhiji, and Jhansi ki Rani, and Sai baba and Abraham Lincoln and
Rabindranath Tagore were born, be considered bad just because it happens to
be outside of some social rituals? Can we in all fairness answer "Yes?"

=46urthermore, they feel there=92s too much happening in an ever-shrinking b=
ut
magically-moving world and there are many things worthier of being obsessed
with than the preservation of a piece of tissue called the Hymen which they
had the misfortune of being born with. This so-called 'seal' husbands are
called upon on wedding nights to ensure, exists.

Is she a woman or a Coke bottle, whose seal must be intact at the time of
purchase for the maximum freshness? She is intelligent enough to examine
the fact that some of the worst social consequences of a culture that
denies sexual freedom are war, drug abuse, suicide, loneliness, rape. And
that there are far worse things she could do than losing her virginity!
Like ignoring the real problems gnawing at the nation.

In a country of one billion people where most people live below the poverty
line, and politicians from the "discriminated" class shamelessly spend
crores on their children=92s weddings, where truckfuls of provisions for the
cyclone-hit lie idle for days while the victims suffer because there=92s no
government machinery to manage the crisis, where fundamentalist killers are
on the loose after murdering Christians and Muslims in the most brutal
manner possible, where a case takes an average of 18 years to come to trial
in a court of law, where the atrocities of history have only grown, how, I
ask, how can we seriously give so much importance to an issue like
virginity? When we can tolerate so much horror all around us, how come we
can't bear to become more generous and human on the subject of sex? How
come, when in the final consequences in Tagore's words, a "name-absorbing,
shame-absorbing, fame-absorbing pile of dust" is what each of us is
certainly going to turn into one day?
(The writer is a young filmmaker known for her women-oriented films.)
_____________
#4.
Newspaper Finance Workers on Strike in Pakistan

Dear Friends,

Please find enclosed a report of a token strike of news papers
employees in Karachi, The leading strike committee is comprised of Labour
Party Pakistan members. Please send your protests on the Email
given below in the letter.

=46arooq Tariq
General Secretary labour Party Pakistan

All the staff of Daily Finance, a newspaper published from
Karachi-Pakistan, had observed token strike on Wednesday, December 22,1999.
They were demanding their wages, which has not been paid for more than two
months. Daily Finance a Karachi based financial newspaper that has been
published for last nine years. All the work force of newspaper are casual
workers, allowing the owners to avoid paying even basic entitlements. These
workers for last several months have not been paid on time and in some
cases their salaries delayed for two or more months. The situation has
worsened as Eid, a Muslim festival, has been just after two weeks while
staffers has not been paid yet. The Eid is due on January 9th, 2000, while
=46inance staff has not been paid for November salaries. Worst case: A staff
member, Mohammed Shafi, had been injured two weeks before in a road
accident. His leg bone was fractured. He had been admitted in a local
private hospital but he could not get release after the operation, as he
was not able to pay hospital bill of Rs 40,000. Interestingly, he has not
paid for three months and owner owed him Rs 40,000. When he phoned the
owner to for the release of his salaries, the owner Sajjad Ali Shah,
refused to talk to him. On Wednesday he asked his colleagues to provide him
some charity so he can get some medicines. This situation was unbearable
for workers and most of them started weeping as they had been informed
about the pledge by their colleagues, who had visited Shafi a day before.

Token Strike: Workers decided to go token strike to get their salaries
release and more importantly Shafi's dues. However owner Sajjad Shah denied
talking to them. Workers had decided to go on token strike and decided to
delay inside pages for at least three hours. All staff members included
reporters, news desk, computer operators, copy pastors, and page makers,
stopped working at 6pm. The management started to threat them that they
would be sacked if they will continue this strike etc. But workers were
determined and they said that they want to hear a definite date for the
payment of salaries and immediate release of Shafi's dues. Strike was
decided to observe for three hours and it was successful, as all staff
members had participated in the strike. A committee comprised on Farhan
Reza, chief reporter, Arshad Hussain, sub-editor, Patrick Sunny,
sub-editor, Basit Ali, sub-editor, and Jawed Latif, computer operator was
formed to lead the negotiations and propose the future strategy. The
committee proposed that work should not be resumed until the owner's
arrival in the office, as he has was still avoiding talking with the staff
members. All comrades approved the suggestion and strike was extended till
the arrival of owner in the office for dialogue. The owner had come about
10.15 in the office and asked the staff members that they can leave the
office if they want, as he does not have money to pay the salaries. He said
that he would close down the newspaper, as it is not profitable for him. He
even abused the workers for making life miserable for him and he abused an
elder staff member, Hamid Sahab who is about 65, for participating in
strike. All comrades got angry on this attitude and decided to leave the
office immediately. However, the committee proposed that the owner would
remain under pressure if they will remain in the premises because the owner
would not like to get destroyed his assets, which are computers, scanners
printers etc. After a brief discussion this proposal was also approved and
strikers remained in the premises. After a while, representatives of owner
came to the striker with the proposal that management can not give the
right date of paying salary right now as newspaper's payments has been
delayed by advertising agencies and the management has been arranging some
credits for their salaries. They urged the protestors to give a day to the
management for arranging the money and after that they would be paid
immediately or be given a definite date for payment, certainly before the
Eid. The management was informed that they would be informed about the
decision of workers after a while. A detail meeting held after that and it
was unanimously decided to give a day to the management for coming up with
concrete results. As it was a token strike therefore it would be ended with
the commitments that the protest would not end till the success of workers.
After that, about 11 p.m., all staff member resumed their works. A
complains has been launched with the Karachi Union of Journalists while
other related bodies would also been informed in the next 24 hours. Workers
have also decided to escalate their movement for the all contract base
workers.

It may be noted that newspaper has been declared industry in Pakistan.
Owners have been earning millions of rupees from this industry. Workers of
this industry, included editorial staff, has been highly underpaid workers.
The average salary in the newspaper for a reporter [and Sub-editors] is
around Rs 5000, per month, which is equivalent to US $ 98 per month. In a
country where inflation rates officialy is above six percent and
unofficialy above 12 percent can help u to understand the living standard
of the workers of this 'industry'.

Workers of Daily Finance has also appealed to all those who read this news
to record their protest to the chief executive of the company at the fax
number 92-021-2415353 And to the chief executive of the country Pervez
Musharraf at the email address CE@p... or

Plz forward the copy of this protest on the email journalist_pk@y...

__________________________________________
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.