[sacw] sacw dispatch (21 Dec.99)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch
20 December 1999
__________________
#1. LA Times on Sri Lankan civil war
#2. Playing with Fire [in India]
#3. Announcing Travelling Film South Asia
__________________
#1.
[From the SAJA E-mail Discussion List
www.saja.org]

Los Angeles Times
20 December 1999

IN SRI LANKA, 'EVERYONE IS SICK OF WAR, AND NOBODY WANTS TO GIVE IN'

South Asia: The battle between Tamil rebels and the government is brutal
and unrelenting

By DEXTER FILKINS, Times Staff Writer

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka-In Asia's bloodiest and longest-running war, the
fighting doesn't halt for the casting of ballots. A spectacular suicide
bomb attack here at a weekend campaign rally in advance of Tuesday's
presidential election failed to kill the country's leader but underlined a
larger point: After 16 years and 61,000 deaths, the country's savage ethnic
war hasn't even begun to exhaust itself.

"They all want their pound of flesh," said Kingsley Swampillai, a Roman
Catholic bishop in the eastern city of Batticaloa. "Everyone is sick of
war, and nobody wants to give in." The extended conflict between minority
Tamils and the Sinhalese-dominated government mocks the best intentions of
the politicians here who promise to heal a country already torn in two. In
the north of this island off India's southern tip, the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam are overrunning government forces. In the east, LTTE cadres
have seized huge swaths of jungle and set up a virtual state. In Colombo,
the capital, Saturday's suicide attack shattered the calm of a city
normally insulated from the tragedies of war. The rich and the middle class
in this languid seaside town lead mostly normal lives, while village boys
hungry for jobs do most of the fighting. The censored media report only
good news, and an economy built on tourism and textiles hums along at a
happy pace. Most of the politicians who preached moderation are dead,
leaving behind a fractured society more than willing to keep the war alive.
"We live in a very schizophrenic society," said Sunila Abeysekera, a human
rights advocate in Colombo. "We have all the elements of civilization-BMWs,
KFC-but we have a history of violence, killing and torture." On Sunday,
soldiers swept the capital in search of accomplices and more suicide
bombers. President Chandrika Kumaratunga was said to be recovering,
although she was reported to have been blinded in her right eye. Officials
said Tuesday's presidential election will go forward as planned, even as
news of fresh military defeats trickled in from the front. "I shall be up
and about soon," the president said in a recorded message.

Assassination Effort Seen as Work of Rebels The assassination attempt
occurred late Saturday when a woman leaped over a barricade and tried to
embrace the president. When Kumaratunga's bodyguards dragged the woman off,
she detonated a bomb that was wrapped around her body. The explosion killed
22 people and wounded 110. At almost the same time, a grenade attack at an
opposition rally north of the capital killed 11 people and injured 40.
Although no one claimed responsibility for the attacks, the assassination
attempt seemed clearly the work of the LTTE, known here as the Tigers.
Suspected LTTE suicide bombers killed Sri Lanka's president in 1993 and a
presidential candidate a year later, and in 1991 Tigers blew up Indian
Prime Minster Rajiv Gandhi. On Sunday, some Sri Lankans remarked that
Kumaratunga might be the first target of an LTTE suicide bomber to have
survived. Indeed, the failed assassination attempt might have the
unintended effect of strengthening Kumaratunga's candidacy. Until the
weekend, the race between her and her main challenger, Ranil
Wickremesinghe, appeared very tight. Kumaratunga, scion of a political
dynasty, was elected five years ago on the promise of ending the war, but
she saw her popularity slip as the military campaign against the Tigers
foundered. Wickremesinghe had gained ground by offering to negotiate with
the rebels. Now, many Sri Lankans believe that Kumaratunga will ride to
victory on a wave of sympathy. "The bombing will clearly affect the
outcome of the election," said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, a leading Tamil
intellectual in Colombo. The fighting in Sri Lanka began in 1983, when
militant Tamils-members of a mostly Hindu minority who chafed under the
persecution of the mostly Buddhist Sinhalese-took up arms against the
government. The LTTE rebels and their 45-year-old reclusive leader,
Velupillai Prabhakaran, are fighting for independence. The government,
which dominates the south, refuses to grant it. Numerous attempts to
negotiate a peaceful settlement have collapsed. The Tigers occupy a
stretch of Tamil-dominated land that runs north to south along the eastern
coast. Estimated to number about 5,000, the rebel force ties up an army 30
times its size. A Tiger offensive last month rolled back two years' worth
of government gains and now threatens Jaffna, the country's second-largest
city. It is a sordid war: Prisoners are killed, suspects are tortured,
civilians are murdered, and children die in combat. The Tigers have emerged
as one of the world's most relentless guerrilla armies, whose male and
female fighters often swallow cyanide pills to escape capture. In
September, in retaliation for a government air raid that killed 22 Tamil
civilians, a mostly female force of Tigers entered the village of Gunagula
and hacked to death 48 civilians, including nine children and two pregnant
women. "This war is never going to end," said Sherine Xavier, a lawyer
who works with victims of torture in Colombo. "People are just too numb."
Inside the majority Tamil areas, the Tigers seem well on their way toward
building their own state. Rebel officials collect taxes and recruit
soldiers-even in some areas nominally under government control. In
Batticaloa, a mostly Tamil city on the eastern coast, the Sri Lankan army
concedes that it rules the town but little of the surrounding countryside.
In some nearby villages, the government and guerrillas all but bump into
one another. "We live under two governments-and two gunpoints," said V.
Nallaiah, a retired factory worker in Puthukkudiyuruppu, a village about 20
miles north of Batticaloa. "There is a daytime government and a nighttime
government." The Tamils of Puthukkudiyuruppu say they are suffering from
the government's efforts to keep them away from the Tigers. Two weeks ago,
villagers say, government troops entered Puthukkudiyuruppu with a masked
informant who fingered 13 suspected Tiger sympathizers. The suspects were
taken away. "The nighttime people have a lot of support here," said V.
Selvarajah, the manager of a guest house in the village. The Tigers
appear so sure of their support that even before they apparently tried to
kill Kumaratunga, they were trying to sway the election in favor of her
opponent. Local politicians say the Tigers have allowed them to campaign
for Wickremesinghe in areas under guerrilla control but have warned
Kumaratunga to stay away. Analysts believe that Tiger leader Prabhakaran so
despises Kumaratunga-who orchestrated a 1995 invasion of Jaffna, the Tamil
cultural capital-that he would try almost anything to defeat her, including
assassination. For its part, Kumaratunga's government says it wants the
Tamil people to participate in the election. It is ringing the
Tiger-controlled areas with polling booths in the hope of drawing Tamils
out. The situation is like that all along the eastern coast: Tiger power
overlapping with government control. "If I want to develop my district, I
need the support of the LTTE," said M. L. A. M. Hizbullah, a member of
Parliament from Batticaloa and a Kumaratunga supporter. "If I want to build
a school, the LTTE has the bricks." Despite such Tiger successes, there
is little evidence that Sri Lankans are turning against the war. Last
month, after LTTE guerrillas captured dozens of villages and killed
hundreds of government soldiers, army generals merely shrugged off the
disaster. "When you are fighting a guerrilla war, you can't expect
success all the time," said Maj. Gen. Lionel Balagalle, the army chief of
staff. Even after the attempt on Kumaratunga's life, Colombo and Sri
Lanka's other urban areas seem strangely cut off from the fighting. One
reason is the overall economy, which last year grew 5%. At night, Colombo
residents fill the fancy hotels to celebrate weddings and holidays. By day,
shoppers fill the streets. "Wake up with Madonna," says a billboard for a
local radio station that has an image of a semi-clad blond woman sprawled
from end to end. Kumaratunga's election slogan: "Don't worry. You're
looking good."

'The Poor People Fight the War' At a recent party in the capital's
exclusive Cinnamon Gardens section, the men said they don't fret much about
the war in the north. Military service, they pointed out, is voluntary.
"The poor people fight the war," said Dev Perera, an airline technician.
"They need the jobs." About 30 miles away, the village of Humbutiyawa has
given 14 soldiers to the war. Ten are at the front; four lie in the town's
graveyard. One of the dead is Priyantha Gamini, killed in 1992 at the age
of 21. His mother, J. A. Shanthi, receives about $60 a month as a pension
from the government-and it is the only income she has. She said her son
joined the army because there was nothing else to do. "He thought that if
something happened to him, the government would take care of his family,"
she said. Saravanamuttu, the Tamil intellectual, decries what he says is
a lack of debate on the direction of the war. He blames government
censorship of newspapers and TV. "The reason why most people in Colombo
are cut off from this war," he said, "is because they have no idea how it
is being fought." Abeysekera, the human rights worker, says she believes
that Sri Lanka's problems run much deeper than any election-or this or that
political killing. Many Sri Lankans, herself included, have seen dozens of
friends and family members killed in the war. Many think not of healing but
of revenge. "When you lose a child in war, there are two ways to go,"
Abeysekera said. "One is to say: 'I've had enough. I want peace.' "The
other way," she said, "is to give one more son to the battle."

(Special correspondent Waruna Karunatilake in Colombo contributed to this
report.)

Copyright 1999 Los Angeles Times
______________
#2.
The Daily Star
19 December 1999

Between the Lines

PLAYING WITH FIRE
By Kuldip Nayar

Two blots on India cannot be easily rubbed off. One is the killing of
3,000 Sikhs in Delhi in 1984. The other is the killing of 1,000 Muslims in
Mumbai in the wake of the Babri masjid demolition in December 1990.

The first one came before parliament the other day in reply to a question.
Members justifiably felt shocked over the slow pace of punishment to the
police officials, who had openly involved themselves with the killing and
looting. Even the action taken against some 12 officials in Delhi was
cursory, not beyond withholding increment or administering censure.

Home Minister L K Advani was unhappy over the light penalty. I do not know
why he expressed his helplessness when Delhi is under the overall control
of Home Ministry. However, he readily agreed to the appointment of a
commission to go into the matter de neve.

It was strange that the Congress members remained silent during the
discussion as if they feared that the commission would point its finger at
the party. Opposition leader Manmohan Singh should have spoken there and
then. But he kept quiet and this was misunderstood.

His subsequent statement that the Congress had no objection to the
constitution of a commission came hours late. Maybe, he had to consult
party president Sonia Gandhi since the 1984 riots are said to have cast a
shadow on Rajiv Gandhi. Poor Manmohan Singh has been receiving hate-mail
and his children, threats.

Leave the Congress apart, Advani should have gone ahead with the
appointment of the commission when the entire House welcomed the proposal.
But he was reluctant. He explained to me that since the Congress had
attacked the BJP for filing the Bofors gun case in the court, he did not
want to be maligned for 'politicising' the 1984 riots.

Advani may be right in thinking that way. But it does not lessen the crime
of those who participated in the killing and looting. It is an open secret
that some Delhi Congress leaders instigated the mob and that the police
were also involved. Rajiv Gandhi was then the Prime Minister. People,
particularly the Sikhs have not forgotten his observation: Jab ek bada ped
girta hai to kuch tou zamin hilti hai (when one big tree falls, the earth
shakes to some extent).

I do not know whether the commission can bring out anything new after 15
years. But the passage of time helps sometimes to see things more clearly.
The crime part has been looked into but the motive part has not been. The
commission may be able to throw light on the reason for making the Sikhs a
target and why the authorities were late in acting against the rioters.
The earlier commissions and committees have gone into the nitty-gritty of
law and order. The new commission should go into the political aspect. Why
did the Congress leaders jumped into the fray?

The Home Ministry can tear a leaf out of South Africa's book and appoint a
Truth and Conciliation Commission (TCC). The statements made before it was
not punishable but those who made them were truthful. The TCC made it
clear that it wanted the culprits to have the catharsis of confession. The
commission should also examine Manmohan Singh's statement during the
election that the RSS, not the Congress, was responsible for the 1984
riots. This observation is said to have been responsible for his defeat.

The Congress may have party washed away its sins when it has lent its
voice to the demand on the appointment of the commission. A Sikh Lok Sabha
member of the Congress said that his party would welcome the security by a
commission. But his was a lone observation. When he made it he was neither
backed by the party spokesman nor by Sonia Gandhi. Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee has also said that the appointment of the commission
depended on the Congress party's okaying the proposal.

Now that the Congress has amended its mistake and has supported the
proposal of a commission, there should be an early announcement about it.
If an eminent person from the South were to head it, the involvement of
the North would not be suspected.

That Attorney General Soli Sorabji has been consulted shows that the
government is on the job. He was brought into the picture before the
matter came up before the Rajya Sabha the second time. On that occasion,
the government should have announced categorically that the commission
would be constituted. Instead, leader of the House, Jaswant Singh, said
that the government would consider appointing the commission. Why this
equivocal attitude?

The appointment of the commission may prick the BJP conscience. It may
decide to take action against the killers and the looters in Mumbai. The
situation at that time (Dec 1996-Jan 1997) was so bad that civil liberty
groups requested the President of India to send the army to set things
right. An eminent retired judge of the Mumbai High Court summed up the
situation when he said in an interview that the streets of Mumbai
resembled the streets of Nazi Germany. The attackers on Muslims and their
houses were not sporadic or spontaneous but "very much planned and
systematic." Over 1,000 persons were killed and property worth Rs. 1,500
crore destroyed.

The Shiv Sena government, in which the BJP was a partner, was held
responsible by the Justice BN Srikrishna Commission. The judge directly
and indirectly criticised Sena-BJP leaders for participation in the
violence. But to date even officers who have been indicted in the
commission's report have not been punished.

I once asked a question in parliament on the non-compliance of the
Srikrishna report. Advani said in reply that the report had first to be
accepted by the state government. Since it had not accepted it, he said,
no action could be taken by the Centre. Now that the Congress-led
coalition has accepted the report and has promised action within two
months, Advani should have no hesitation in punishing the IAS and IPS
officers, who have been named in the commission report. Both services are
under the Home Ministry.

There are reports that the Maharashtra government, which has a wafer-thin
majority in the state assembly, may not take on the saffron combine,
particularly when the action would mean moving against Sena chief Bal
Thackerey. I hope that the Congress-led government does not put the report
on the back burner.

Commissions have no meaning if the government drags its feet when it comes
to taking action on their recommendations. Past experience shows that no
government or party has followed the advice of any commission, much less
punished those who have been mentioned by name.

The Shah Commission, which went into the excesses committed during the
emergency (1975-77), had proposed a look by outsiders into the working of
all police agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau and the Central
Bureau of Investigation. But nothing has been done because the agencies
are afraid to be exposed. And working hand in glove with the party in
power, they have been politicised. The CBI's credibility has come to be
questioned following a recent case where the agency is said to have
manipulated a murder case because the accused was a police officer's son.

In fact, there is need to overhaul the entire police machinery and its
onentaton in dealing with the public particularly the phenomenon of
communal violence. The force has got contaminated. As was seen in Delhi in
1984 and in Mumbai in 1996-97, the rioting, ultimately, came down to
confrontation between the minorities and the police. This continues to
happen even today.

Something has to be done about the religiosity of policeman. At least
temples, mosques and gurdwaras at the Police Lines should be closed. Those
who want to pray can go to places in the city. Otherwise, we are playing
with fire.
______________
#3.
ANNOUNCING TRAVELLING FILM SOUTH ASIA

=46ifteen outstanding documentaries from the Subcontinent made between 1997
and 1999 are about to start their journey to venues around the world.

=46ilm South Asia =9299, the second edition of the festival of South Asian
documentaries, was successfully held in Kathmandu from 30 September- 3
October 1999. Altogether 52 films from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan
and Sri Lanka were screened, drawing filmmakers and media activists from
all over South Asia as well as a connoisseur Kathmandu audience.

The films at FSA =9299 proved that over the last two years there has been a
surge in the quality and variety of documentaries being made in the region.
The orgainsers, Himal Association and Himal magazine, are therefore proud
to announce yet another Travelling Film South Asia (TFSA).

As with FSA '97, a selection 15 outstanding films from the festival will
now start their journey all over the Subcontinent and the world, showcasing
the best of South Asian documentary- making and giving audiences an
opportunity to sample the enormous range and variety available. The 15
films (see list below) have been chosen with the help of the festival=92s
three- member jury and include six that received awards at FSA =9299. TFSA
will begin its rounds in December 1999 and continue through mid-2000.

Over the course of 1998, the last travelling festival went to more than 30
venues, from New Delhi to New York, Bangalore to Berkeley to Bonn. The
organisers expect the present TFSA to touch down in more cities and we
encourage groups interested in hosting this mobile documentary fest to
contact us. Due to the advances in the projection systems linked to VHS,
the logistics of organising film festivals have now become relatively
simple, and the festival secretariat helps with an efficient package of
tapes and information materials. We organise the travelling festival in the
belief that it plays an important role in expanding the audience for the
South Asian documentary film.

Hosting TFSA
The TFSA package comes with VHS tapes, TFSA posters, festival catalogues,
display material, and other support material. The films will all be
available in high-quality VHS tapes to be screened through projection
systems. We suggest that the 15 films, which vary significantly in length,
be screened over three consecutive afternoons-evenings, but a more flexible
schedule may be also considered. Cumulatively, the documentaries constitute
13.5 hours of viewing time.

The festival will only travel to cities where host organisations are
willing to take full responsibility for publicity, screenings and all
associated logistics. The host organisations will also have to pick up the
expense of of couriering the tapes to the next venue in their part of the
world.

Costs
There is no charge levied on exhibitors and venues within South Asia.
Beyond the region, an all- inclusive charge of USD 600 per venue is levied
by the TFSA organisers in order to defray all festival-related costs
(anything left over will go to the organisation of Film South Asia =9201, t=
o
be held in September 2001). Please note that the films in the TFSA package
may only be screened non-commercially. This means that the admission
tickets may be sold (if at all) only to help defray exhibition costs.

More Information
=46or more details about Traveling Film South Asia, including travel
schedule, please contact Festival Director Manesh Shrestha at fax +
977-1-541196 or email fsa@m...

More information on Film South Asia =9199, including festival report, full
listing, jury report, press releases etc is available at website {
HYPERLINK http://www.himalmag.com/fsa }.

List of Travelling Films
=46ollowing is the list of films selected for Traveling Film South Asia,
including brief description of films, name(s) of director(s), year of
production, length, and country/region. All films are in English or
subtitled in English.

Don't Pass Me By - Eclectic profiles of 'macho' locals and tourists who
come to low both their minds and muscles at the Nepali resort town of
Pokhara. Sarah Kapoor, Christina Lamey and Kristi Vuorinen. 1999. 40 min.
Nepal.

Duhshomoy (A Mother's Lament) =96 Recreation of events surrounding the
pick-up of a 16-year-old garment factory worker by the Dhaka police, who is
allegedly gang raped and sent to prison for 'safe custody' where she dies
under mysterious circumstances. Yasmine Kabir. 1999. 26 min. Bangladesh.

=46ishers of Men - Adivasis of Chottanagpur plateau have been converting int=
o
Christianity for over a century but of late Hindu activists have launched
campaigns to bring them =91back=92. Ranjan Kamath and Padmavathi Rao. 1997. =
117
min. Madhya Pradesh/ India.

The Forgotten Army - An expedition with some veterans of Subash Chandra
Bose's Indian National Army to retrace their historic march and the events
that took place between 1942 and 1945. Winner of Grand Jury Prize at FSA
=9299. Kabir Khan. 1997. 105 min. Pre-1947 India.

Jibon (Life) =96 In Guwahati a mother perseveres as her 12- year-old
school-going son comes down with Duchenne=92s Muscular Dystrophy which has n=
o
cure. An impossible situation confronted with unfaltering hope. Altaf
Mazid. 1998. 56 min. Assam/India.

A Letter to Samten =96 Narrated through a =91personal letter=92 to the main
protagonist of the film by the filmmaker in an attempt to understand
Bhutanese life left behind by in India. Alex Gabbay. 1999. 25 min.
Darjeeling District/India.

Listening to Shadows =96 An exploration of the worlds of the sighted and the
blind, a dialogue between the filmmaker and his visually impaired friend.
Koushik Sarkar. 1998. 26 min. Gujarat.

Muktir Kotha (Words of Freedom) =96 Bangladeshi villagers recall the
liberation war of 1971, their memories jogged by a documentary on the war,
Muktir Gaan. Tareque and Catherine Masud. 1999. 80 min. Bangladesh.

No One Believes the Professor =96 A surreal voyage with Orpheus Augustus
Marcks, a.k.a. Professor Sahib: a Lahori poet, actor, philosopher, athlete,
who walks the line between genius and divine madness. Joint Winner of the
Best Film Award in FSA =9299. Farjad Nabi. 1999. 25 min. Punjab/Pakistan.

Pure Chutney =96 A US-based Indian writer interacts with the South Asian
diaspora in Trinidad, its =93preoccupation with India=94 and explores comple=
x
matter of identity. Joint Winner of the Second Best Film Award at FSA =9299.
Sanjeev Chatterjee. 1998. 42 min. Trinidad and Tobago.

Ragi: Kana: Ko Bonga Buru (Buddha Weeps in Jadugoda) =96 The state needs
uranium to be mined, but the consequences of negligence are tragic for a
vulnerable and rural population in the Bihar plateau. Winner of the Third
Best Film Award at FSA =9299. Shriprakash. 1999. 76 min. Bihar/India

Skin Deep =96 With six first-person narratives the film traces the dynamics
of the eternal search for the ideal femininity and how it permeates the
self- image of contemporary Indian women. Reena Mohan. 1998. 83 min. India

Thin Air =96 With humour and compassion, sometimes turning darkly comic and
unsettling, three Bombay magicians are shown as they desperately try to
make an imprint on the world. Joint Winner of the Best Film Award at FSA
'99. Ashim Alhuwalia. 1998. 42 min. Maharastra/India.

Three Women and a Camera - One retired and two working women photographers
seek to contextualise their work as photographers, as women and products of
their times. Joint Winner of the Second Best Film Award at FSA '99. Sabeena
Gadihoke. 1998. 56 min. India.

Voices of Dissent: A Dance of Passion - Dancing in Pakistan means different
things to a classically trained female dancer, a male Kathak dancer, a
popular film actress and a mullah. NoorKhan Bawa. 1999. 22 min. Pakistan.

( Manesh Shrestha Festival Director Film South Asia GPO Box 7251,
Kathmandu, Nepal Phone: +977-1-542544/543333 Fax: +977-1-521013 email:
fsa@m...)
__________________________________________
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.