[sacw] sacw dispatch #1 (2 Dec.99)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch #1
2 December 1999
--------------------------
#1. 'Dukhtarane Millet' in Indian part of Kashmir
#2. Sangh Parivar backs off from backing Kannur peace accord
#3. Gandhi Did Not Wear Saffron
#4. Seatle Battle to Rattle 'Capital'
--------------------------
#1.
The Week
5 December 1999
COVER STORY + related stories

BURQA BRIGADE
(The outlawed Dukhtarane Millet is the only group of woman
militants in the Kashmir Valley. Headed by 37-year-old Aassiyeh Andrabi
(below, in her hideout), it began with the aim of teaching women the
tenets of Islam but is now dreaming of an Islamic state )

By Vijaya Pushkarna/Srinagar
Her name is as well known in the Kashmir Valley as Indira Gandhi's is in
the country. Yet, except for her immediate family members and a few women
close to her, meeting her is perhaps more difficult than meeting a prime
minister. News photographers have clicked her pictures and attended her
press conferences, but none of them has seen her face. Wedded to Islam in
its undiluted form, she lets very few see her without her burqa. Aassiyeh
has been underground or in jail for over a decade and is one of the most
wanted persons in Kashmir Aassiyeh Andrabi sees the hood as Allah's own
way of providing her some kind of security cover. Andrabi, 37, is the
founder president of Dukhtarane Millet (Daughters of the Community), an
outlawed organisation of radical, pro-Pakistan women who have defied the
security forces and hoisted the Pakistani flag in Srinagar every August 14
for the last 18 years. She is the woman who has been churning up the
passions of her sisters in the valley, and at one time thrown acid on the
face of women who refused to wear the burqa. Aassiyeh has remained
underground or in jail for over a decade almost without let up and is
today one of the most wanted persons as far as the security forces are
concerned. Whenever she has something to say, she calls a few newspaper
offices and gives out the time and venue of her press conference. The
waiting reporters are either taken elsewhere or suddenly faced with a
woman in a burqa who makes her statement before getting lost in a crowd of
burqa-wearing women waiting outside. How do you know it is her? I asked
long-time photographer Meraj-ud-din. "By her voice. Everyone in the Valley
knows her voice," he said. My week-long efforts, through many channels, to
meet Aassiyeh were initially met with apologetic shakes of the head since
the security forces were gunning for her. After persuading some contacts,
I learnt that she was bedridden, but that I, too, could hear that voice
the people in the Valley knew so well. She was to ring me up at an
appointed time, and speak for five minutes. That did not happen. From an
intermediary I learnt that she was pregnant; the baby was due any day.
When I persisted I was told that she would ring me up late that evening.
=46inally, I heard the voice: "Aassiyeh bol rahi hoon." She promised to let
me know the next morning whether I could meet her. The next time I heard
the voice, it was to tell me that a woman in burqa would pick me up and
take me to her. No, no male photographer could go along.

There were a few women in the house. I was ushered into a wall-to-wall
carpeted room with gaf-takiyas (round cushions like bolsters) strewn
around. The lady who had brought me placed a blanket on my lap while I
waited for Aassiyeh Andrabi. When the president of Dukhtarane Millet made
her entry, it was without a burqa! Much as she would have preferred me not
to see her without one, she had pregnancy-related complications, and
wearing a burqa made breathing difficult. She only wore it briefly while I
shot her pictures. VEILED LESSONS: Police rounding up a burqa-clad woman
protestor in Srinagar Short and cherubic, Aassiyeh smiled when I repeated
Meraj-ud-din's comment that she had been heard but not seen. "That is
true, at least since I founded Dukhtarane Millet in 1981," she said. It
was the year she graduated in biochemistry, bacteriology and diet therapy
from a college in Srinagar. Till then she was like any other girl, not
overly religious, despite being from an orthodox family. She was all set
to do her MSc in biochemistry at Dalhousie in Himachal, when her brother,
Dr Inayatullah Andrabi, refused to let her go far from home. She was
disappointed, but gave in. Later that year she chanced upon a book,
Khwadeen ki Dilon ki Baatein (Inner Feelings of Women), in the library at
home. The book, compiled by Ma-il Khairabadi, had a story about an
American Jew, Max Margaret, who had embraced Islam and become Mariam
Jameela. It also carried a picture of Mariam Jameela behind a veil. That,
says Aassiyeh, was the turning point. She was ashamed that despite being a
Muslim, from a Syed family, she knew very little of Islam and the Quran,
while an American Jew had converted to Islam after reading the Quran. She
fought with her physician father, Syed Shahabuddin Andrabi, for letting
her remain ignorant, while he himself was an Islamic scholar, and decided
to study the religion on her own. The books were in Arabic, a language
she did not know. She read the Quran in Urdu, while learning Arabic at
Kashmir University so that she could read the original works. When she
could read, she opened a part-time school in Srinagar for girls to study
Islam. From the school she moved to the mosque. She collected women there
and, within weeks, she had persuaded women to fan out in the villages and
motivate other women to learn about their religion. Realising that
teaching women to read and write was equally important, she founded
Dukhtarane Millet. "From 1981 to 1987, I visited all the districts, all
the schools and colleges, talking about nothing other than the importance
of Islam," said Aassiyeh. The government took no notice of her or her
supporters.

Dukhtarane Millet's goal is the creation of a Muslim world under an
Islamic government These meetings opened her eyes to the reality of dowry,
women abuse and violence against women among the Muslims in the Valley.
Dukhtarane Millet went beyond religion, to fight for the cause of women.
They had nothing to do with politics or Pakistan when, in 1987, Aassiyeh
led 150 women to meet Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah to demand reservation
of seats for women in state-run buses. "He is an ill-tempered man. He saw
us in burqa, and even before we could present our demand, charged me with
trying to bring about an Islamic revolution in the Valley," recalled
Aassiyeh. She told him to listen to the women first. "We have not come to
talk about Islam now=8A only to ask you to reserve six seats in every
state-run bus for women. It's done everywhere." Dr Abdullah, according to
her, taunted them for talking about reservation when man had landed on the
moon. "He was simply ill-behaved, didn't listen to us, and went away.
Later we met the transport minister who said he would talk to the chief
minister about it." In April that year, her followers blackened posters of
skimpily-clad women on Srinagar walls. The burqas hid the tins of paint
and brushes. The volunteers descended from all directions and made
surprise strikes=D1an 800-strong burqa-clad force moving around blackening
the posters, before taking out in a silent procession at the famed Lal
Chowk. That April evening, police raided Aassiyeh's house for the first
time. "Fortunately I was not at home. They harassed my parents, and
charged me with anti-national activities. I went underground for three
weeks," she said about her first brush with the police. "They raided
Dukhtarane Millet's office in Batmaloo, arrested the owner of the rented
building and took away all our books." When Aassiyeh resurfaced, her
relatives were pressuring her parents to rein her in. Her firmness then
turned into defiance, and she let it be known that she took her own
decisions. "Our women don't even go out=8A so being active the way I wanted
to be was very difficult for my parents. I insisted that Islam did not
make anyone superior or inferior, and to pin me down was unIslamic." Her
activities continued in that direction, without "any trouble" till 1990,
when a pro-independence movement caught the imagination of the people of
the Valley. Dukhtarane Millet gave wholehearted moral support to the
mujahideen. The organisation's political stand and goal had become clear:
the creation of a Muslim world under an Islamic government. Kashmir's
accession with Pakistan was seen as a stepping stone towards that goal. In
May that year the government banned Dukhtarane Millet along with dozens of
other anti-India outfits supporting the secessionist movement. Assiyeh's
parental home was frequently raided because her brother was the convener
of the Mahaze Islamic Front. For a second time, she went into hiding. In
1987 Dukhtarane women blackened posters of skimpily-clad women before
taking out a march in Srinagar While on the run she married Mohammad
Qasim, the publicity chief of the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, and her son,
Mohammad Bin Qasim, was born underground. "It was a caesarean birth and
three days later I was heading for a meeting. When my son was six months
old, my husband and I were arrested while we were returning from Delhi,"
said Aassiyeh. Detained under the Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Act
(TADA) and the Public Safety Act, Aassiyeh was interrogated at the Jammu
Interrogation Centre for two months. Later she was moved to the Central
Jail, where she spent 20 months. She was released when the case against
her was quashed. The Dukhtarane Millet continues to be banned, and her
band of women in burqa periodically throw stones at the security forces,
and highlight what they perceive to be violation of human rights. At the
political level, they hold pro-Pakistan demonstrations and celebrate the
Pakistani independence day.

Dukhtarane Millet appears to evoke greater response in the Valley than
many other pro-independence organisations. Srinagar-based industrialist
Shaukat Jan says people adore them "because of their anti-India and
pro-freedom stance. They love them and support them wholeheartedly." While
Aassiyeh herself attributes the favourable response to women being more
concerned, sensitive and emotional than men, constituents of the All-Party
Hurriyat Conference do not exactly go ga-ga over the militant women's
group. Among the public, too, there are large sections not favourably
inclined towards Dukhtarane Millet. The reason is the difference in their
objectives: most of the Hurriyat constituents are open about their demand
for azadi=D1freedom. Very few in the Valley are pro-Pakistan. A professor
at Kashmir University, for instance, does not think Dukhtarane Millet is
as important as the JKLF. "It is not broadbased," said the professor. "It
is an orthodox outfit representing fundamentalist ideas, pleading the
cause of Islam. But the struggle of the Kashmiris is not religious, not
for an Islamic government, but for freedom." "It is a 100 per cent ISI
backed organisation," said Abdur Rasheed Dar, deputy chairman of the J&K
Legislative Council, who is tipped to become a minister in the Farooq
Abdullah cabinet. "There is nothing genuine about it, and there is a lot
of resentment among Kashmiri women who have defied Dukhtarane Millet's
diktats and commands. They force them to wear burqas and take them to
medieval time." Dukhtarane Millet's banned status and Aassiyeh's
underground existence notwithstanding, Director-General of Police
Gurbachan Jagat said the outfit was a creation of the media. Said another
officer, who did not want to be identified: "The image of burqa-clad women
demonstrating is appealing. That is all there is to them." Most other
militant outfits in the Valley and the constituents of the All-Party
Hurriyat Conference may be willing to negotiate with the government for a
settlement in the not-too-distant future. Dukhtarane Millet, however, is
prepared to wait for a long, long time for achieving their goals. Aassiyeh
says she has never touched a gun. On the contrary, she claims she has
stopped women from wielding the AK 47 or lobbing grenades. Some people are
willing to give her the benefit of doubt on that, and they believe that if
not gun-wielding, the Daughters of the Community have been gun-running for
the militants.

********
INTERVIEW/AASSIYEH ANDRABI
We would like to Islamise Pakistan
By Vijaya Pushkarna

Aassiyeh Andrabi looks like any other matronly housewife, but talks with
passion about the organisation she founded, the Kashmir problem, and the
status of women in Islamic society. Excerpts from an interview in her
hideout: Is Dukhtarane Millet a militant organisation or a feminist group
raising gender issues? I started out by trying to impart lessons in the
Quran and Islam for two hours a day for women and children. Then I
realised most women here were illiterate, and so started adult education
centres=8A darsga, a place of learning. We imparted basic education so that
they could at least read newspapers. When lots of women came together,
women's issues came up naturally. Dukhtarane Millet workers went about
educating them on their rights as Muslim women, the rights Islam and the
Quran gave women. That they have an identity apart from that of their
husbands. Seeing the situation of Muslims the world over, the way out is
Muslim unity under an Islamic regime When the pro-azadi movement started in
1989-90, we lent the mujahideen moral support. We protested and
demonstrated against human rights violations and excesses by the forces.
Last month a woman in her bridal clothes was interrogated because they
thought her husband was a militant. Our sisters got there and fought. "Why
are you terrorising the woman if you cannot get her husband," we asked.
These are sensitive issues. So you are saying that it is not a terrorist
outfit, that members have never wielded the gun? When Dukhtarane Millet
was banned in May 1990, for being anti-India and supporting the
mujahideen, a lot of women got very emotional and wanted to take to the
gun. I firmly spoke against it, because women have other responsibilities.
I told them that if they handled these responsibilities properly, the men
would be free to do their duties as mujahideen. So no woman in this
organisation has used a gun or lobbed a grenade. Were they couriers and
harbourers? In 1990, I got married to a member of the Jamaiat ul
Mujahideen. I may have helped him, because he is my husband. I may have
done something for my brother. Like that all our sisters were married to
mujahideen, had brothers who were mujahideen and so on. They have done
things purely in their personal capacity. Dukhtarane Millet is an
organisation with a different goal. What is it? Liberation and merger
with Pakistan first, and at the global level, unity of all Islamic umah.
Merging with Pakistan is only a transitional step. Pakistan may be a land
of Muslims, but it is not the home of all Muslims. We would like to
Islamise Pakistan. Which Muslim nation, in your view, has the kind of
Islamic government you are dreaming about? Frankly none. Right now no
country is Islamic in the sense we would like it to be. Afghanistan was
coming close to that, but there too they are killing each other. Why did
you opt for a goal that seems impractical? When I see the situation of
Muslims the world over=8A when I see how Bill Clinton is behaving with them=
,
taking advantage of their lack of unity=8A I see no way other than the unit=
y
of all Muslims under an Islamic regime. Otherwise our people will get
killed as in Chechnya and in Kashmir=8A So your organisation is not really
concerned about the performance or otherwise of the state government, or
the attitude of the Central government? No=8A that makes no difference. It
is not as if we dislike Farooq Abdullah. If Vajpayee Sahib himself comes
it won't help. The fact of the case is that in 1947, we of the Muslim
majority Kashmir were denied our right to choose, while Muslims elsewhere
got that right. Even now we say we should be given that right. There are
reports that some jailed Hurriyat leaders are having secret talks with the
Government of India? Let them. They have people with elastic ideologies. If
any of them becomes chief minister, he too will be a renegade like Farooq
Abdullah, as far as we are concerned. What kind of support do you get from
Pakistan? What can they do for us? Morally they are supporting the Kashmir
movement, so that means support for us too. How do you raise funds to run
such a huge outfit? We have friends here and outside, who give us whatever
we need. But we need money only for the widows and orphans of the
mujahideen, not for ourselves or our organisation. How was life on the
run? We were constantly on the move. Life was very difficult, but we did
not expect it to be otherwise. My husband and I were busy in different
places. The difficult time was when my son was born. What did you do with
your son when you were arrested? He was with me. Because showing a
six-month-old on the records of the Interrogation Centre would amount to
violation of human rights, he did not exist for them. Because he did not
exist legally, there was no sanction for any kind of diet for him=8A no
Cerelac, porridge, banana or biscuits. But it is only Allah who provides.
I lactated so much when I was breast-feeding him that he did not need any
supplements. The only times when I felt sad and helpless was when I could
not attend to him when he was wet and playing in urine and stool. But all
that changed when we were moved to a jail. How were you treated at the
Interrogation Centre? In all fairness, I was never tortured physically, not
once. But no one would have been more tortured mentally. From nine in the
morning to nine at night, there were people from the police, the IB, the
RAW and every imaginable agency, asking me questions, accusing me without
a pause. Did the fact of being a woman make a difference to you while the
movement was at its height? All of us women were involved, so we were in it
together. Many lost their husbands in two days, two weeks or four months
of marriage. But even those were not in our organisation suffered.
Everyone suffered and is suffering. What is the one event of Dukhtarane
Millet that you will never forget? In 1991, the army gangraped women at
Chanpora one night. The next day there was continuous curfew, with a
two-hour relaxation. In that short period of time, thousands of women
reached Lal Chowk from different places. There were loudspeakers on the
cars driven by burqa-clad women. We had mobilised them by making
announcements in the mosques. A lot of force was used by the government.
They sprinkled gunpowder on some stretches of our route and set the place
on fire. Our goal was to reach the UN office. The procession split into
many segments, but all of them reached the place, some bleeding, some
hurt, but they were all there. All in less than two hours. Another time,
almost 30,000 violated curfew, according to the government, when Jagmohan
was Governor. They tried to prevent us from reaching the mosque! Don't you
miss the freedom of movement? My son, who is eight now, used to ask me why
we don't have a house. I have never thought of my own freedom. As long as
this anti-India fight is on, I've dedicated myself to it.
********
RISING RESENTMENT CORRUPTION IN NATIONAL CONFERENCE GOVERNMENT ANGERS PEOPLE

When Dr Farooq Abdullah returned home as Chief Minister of Jammu and
Kashmir, many who had sympathised with the freedom movement in the Valley
did not conceal their anger. They were equally vocal against the militants
who had indulged in rape, extortion and killings. It was the perfect
setting to win back the alienated people of the Valley. UNPOPULAR: Farooq
Abdullah with son Omar and other family members But less than three years
down the line, nothing of the sort has happened. Farooq Abdullah recently
threatened to resign because he had no money to run his government. People
are furious about the nepotism and corruption in the National Conference
government and there is a fresh surge of sympathy for the militants. The
chief minister may not have to carry out his threat immediately, thanks to
a package promised by the Centre. A sub-committee comprising officials of
finance and home ministries, the planning commission and the state
government will assess the financial requirements of the state for the
current year. But headlines reading =D4Farooq go, resign' made the frontpage=
s
of dailies in the Valley as people debated the promised package, and
whether it would work at all. While the state's annual expenditure works
out to over Rs 2,600 crore, its revenue is a little below Rs 600 crore.
According to the latest report of the CAG, out of the Rs 1,750 crore
approved for the current year's plan, Rs 1,000 crore goes towards salaries
of staff alone. Around 65,000 employees were added between October 1996
and March this year. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Chaman Lal Gupta
has charged the Farooq government with adding over a lakh of employees
since he took over. These jobs, it is alleged, have been sold by those in
power-mainly National Conference leaders and legislators=D1or given to thos=
e
with the right connections. It was in such a scenario that 34-year-old
Taslima of Anantnag abused and attempted to slipper Farooq Abdullah. "I am
qualified, but could not pay the 50,000 rupees they wanted from me. But a
relative who was not as qualified, got a job because she could pay," the
frustrated job applicant said at a hospital where they admitted her for
depression. According to one senior officer in the state government,
crores of rupees have been spent on beautifying the prestigious Maulana
Azad Road in Srinagar, while thousands of burnt-out transformers across
the state cry for repairs. "There is no sense of priority. Kashmir is not
MA Road," he maintained. Misappropriation of funds is also rampant. The
chief minister, it is said, found the Khanabal-Pahalgam road in a bad
state, and sanctioned crores of rupees for its repair. The amount was
withdrawn over the last two years, but on a recent visit Farooq found the
road exactly as he had seen it last. Furious, he refused further funds.
But when he was out of town, the chief engineer concerned got more funds
sanctioned from the acting chief minister. Most of the schools are in a
bad state, but what has angered the people more is the state of the
hospitals. The Sri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, a famous old institution,
has begun telling patients to bring their own medicines, x-ray films,
syringes and dressing material. The rising number of unemployed educated
youth is also becoming a cause for worry: between 1,000 to 3,000 are
reported to be missing. The fear is that they may have been lured by the
militant outfits. In Kashmir employment means only government jobs, and
there is no political party mobilising people to look for self-employment
opportunities. You talk about it to some of these youth, and pat comes the
reply: "Even if I want to take a loan, I have to give a hefty commission."
The state government's own financial institutions are in the red, with
absolutely no recoveries, and no further funds to give out. The question
being asked is: Will the Centre reimburse only security related expenses
or make good the money misappropriated?
Vijaya Pushkarna
------------------------
#2.
Rediff on the Net
Dec 1999

SANGH PARIVAR BACKS OFF FROM BACKING KANNUR PEACE ACCORD
by D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram
The initiative by former Supreme Court judge, Justice V R Krishna Iyer to
end the political violence in the Kannur district of Kerala has suffered a
setback with the Sangh Parivar refusing to sign a peace accord evolved
jointly by the Forum for Democratic and Communal Amity headed by him and
the Kannur district peace committee.

Bharatiya Janata Party state president C K Padmanabhan and Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh state secretary A R Mohanan told rediff.com that they
would not sign the agreement in its present form. The agreement, which
envisages that the political parties would shun violence and cooperate
with the law-enforcement authorities to ensure lasting peace in the
northern district, was signed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist,
Communist Party of India and the Indian Union Muslim League at a meeting
held in Kochi on Tuesday. The BJP/RSS representatives had kept away from
the meeting.

Padmanabhan said he did not think the accord would pave the way for
fostering peace since senior leaders of the concerned parties, who
responsible for restraining their cadres, had not associated with the
exercise.

"The agreement would have been effective if senior leaders of the CPI-M
like state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister E K Nayanar or
politburo member V S Achutanandan had signed it. We do not know whether
the agreement signed by a local leader like T K Balan has the approval of
these senior leaders," Padmanabhan said.

The BJP leader said he had doubts whether the party cadres would adhere to
a document signed by a local leader. Mohanan also expressed similar
sentiments when asked about the RSS stand on signing the document. He said
the troubles in Kannur district could not be treated as a local problem.
The entire CPI-M machinery and the government headed by it are responsible
for the political violence in Kannur, he added.

Mohanan said the violence could have been checked to a great extent if the
police machinery controlled by Nayanar had acted in an impartial manner.

The police headed by deputy inspector general of police Shekhar Miniyodan
have been acting as agents of the CPI-M. The chief minister has been
maintaining an indifferent attitude when police behaved in partisan
manner, he said.

"There cannot be any peace in the region unless such officers are
removed," he said and added that almost all the opposition parties had
echoed similar feelings. The peace initiatives in the past had failed
because the police personnel were not prepared to change their approach,
he said.

" We should take effective steps against the failure of peace efforts in
the past before embarking on new initiatives. We should know how the past
efforts failed and who were responsible for it. If we are found wrong we
are prepared to correct ourselves," Mohan said. He said the chief minister
had a greater responsibility in the peace process since his own
constituency has become a hotbed of violence. Mohanan said eight RSS
workers were killed in the CPI-M violence in Nayanar's constituency of
Thalasserry in the last three years. "How can the chief minister remain
unconcerned about it?" he asked.

Krishna Iyer, who has been working on the peace deal for the last two
months, expressed his disappointment at the lack of adequate response to
his effort from political parties, especially the Sangh Parivar. He hoped
that the parties would realise the importance and join the initiative. He
said that the efforts to involve all concerned in the initiative would
continue.

Krishna Iyer said the leaders of the CPI-M, CPI and IUML, who took part in
the initiative, had agreed to force their senior leaders sign the accord.

Meanwhile, the initiative by the artistes and social workers in the state
to awaken people against the cult of violence has evoked encouraging
response from different sections of the people. Noted filmmaker K P
Kumaran, who mooted the idea, said a large number of people from different
fields have agreed to join the journey they are undertaking from
Aruvippuram (the birth place of Sree Narayana Guru) to the trouble prone
Kannur from December 25 to January 1.

The artistes participating in the journey, which has been christened as
'Ammaye Kanan' (in quest of mother) would perform their arts throughout
the journey, Kumaran said.
-------------------------------------
#3.
The Asian Age
28 November 1999
The Age on Sunday

'GANDHI DID NOT WEAR SAFFRON'
Novelist and weiter Krishna Sobti has just been honoured with the Katha
Chaudamani award. She talks to AMIT SENGUPTA about life in the time of
Hindutva

'You can't have freedom if you are not prepared to be wrong. You can't
always be right and still want to be free. You have to train yourself to
be awake when everyone else is sleeping."

She wakes up late. Very late. She doesn't sleep in the night. This has
been an old habit with a woman who guards her habits and her own space
fiercely. When the night clears with the first nuance of dawn, she stops
writing. "I work all night. I'm a nocturnal creature. I'm totally
dysfunctional in the day."

Krishna Sobti. Born 1925. Nove-list and writer. Author of Zindag-inama,
Mitro Marjani, Ai Ladki, Dar Se Bichdi and Surjamukhi Andhere Ke among
others. By the time this chaotic century finds its fated dead-end, she
would have already travelled through 75 years of fragmented time inside
the written text of her life, and outside in the undocumented, rough,
pulsating noises, memories and smells of the world. And she is still
travelling, a compulsive rebel against the human condition, doggedly
looking for the meaning of hope in a world suddenly besieged by the
shadows of the past.

"They are coming back, the fascists. They have already come back. There is
no doubt about their real intentions. They have all the designs of
dictatorship," she says, not like a prophecy but with the swift anger of
someone who likes to fight back, who hates defeat.

Her eyes are sharp, they too talk like the rapid flow of her early
mi-dnight staccato sentences. The lilt in her voice moves with her eyes,
like that of a young, breathless girl, chasing one imagination after
ano-ther, losing track, finding a thread, a tide, a metallic object,
falling, faltering, running once again.

She is a long distance runner. No doubt about it. And she is not afraid.
Not yet.

"It's the responsibility of every writer in India to stand up and say that
this country will not accept any form of dictatorship, or any ideology
which controls our mind. We did not accept Emergency. We will not accept
the saffronisation of our culture and politics=8A

"Look at what they are doing and how we are accepting everything. This
man, Murli Manohar Joshi, is absolutely illiterate. He doesn't kn-ow what
he talks, what he is doing. This is the most dangerous aspect of this new
one agenda politics. They are so foolish that sometimes you can't help but
laugh at them." And she laughs, like someone who has seen through the dark
absurdity of the game. "This man said so-mewhere that our science and
technology is the greatest in the world. That it's more than 2,000 years
old. Tell me, you can't help but laugh at their incredible ignorance.

"They are trying to mythologise history, but they are totally illiterate
about Indian history and philosophy. They have absolutely no clue about
the subconscious history of the complex Indian mind. In the process they
are destroying both mythology and history. And everyone will become their
target, especially women. Because they still uphold the status of a woman
as a devi, a sex object, an invisible creature who will labour and
produce. They just cannot accept a woman with a strong self-identity, who
breaks barriers. In that sense, they will attack all progressive
discipli-nes of gender and culture studies."

She suddenly deviates. She is un-stoppable now. She speaks of her
experiences at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, where she
was invited to work as a creative writer. "I thought fine, it's a
beautiful place, I can work here. But suddenly I had to face this chairman
from Allahabad, a Murli Manohar Joshi clone, a man called Pandey, who came
and pompously announced that we cannot eat non-vegetarian food in the
campus. Fish, chicken, mutton, eggs, they are banned. What kind of people
are these, they want everyone to become vegetarians?" And she laughs
again. There is complete derision in her laughter.

"They said that writers don't need to come here. They can sit in a dark
kothri (room) and write. I told them I was not dying to come here. I was
invited. But if you think writers don't need a space to work, then I
disagree. Why should they work in a dark kothri? This only proves their
utter insensitivity and pettiness, their little warped self-glorified
minds. They gave me an award. Their government in Delhi. I refused. I
don't want their awards after what they are doing to the co-untry. Imagine
raking up the issue of conversions done 400 years ago. What a paglota
thing. People convert for self-dignity, not for money."

And what is she writing now? She looks at the Van Gogh reproduction on the
wall. Sunflowers. Animated, Sobti replies she is writing about the
marginalisation of those who grow old inside and outside the joint family.
The book is called Samay Sargam , "Samay ke saath raag badal jaata hain=8A
sargam badal jata hain=8A" (The tune and melody changes with time). "People
have suddenly bec-ome cold. They only know how to smile in different ways
to get things done. If you don't smile then you are condemned. It was not
like this before, if an old man finds a woman companion they can
eli-minate him. They can eliminate a mother for property, her own sons can
do it. But the cruelty is more stark in everyday life. Money has become so
important. There is no sharing, but buying shares has bec-ome more
important. Why can't old people do what they want?"

She feels something "very serious" is happening to our society. "This
cruelty and social inequality has to be evened out. You can't have
millions of people outside this affluence, this cyberspace, this global
notion of success. For how long can they wait? When will our politicians
realise that they are frittering away democracy. Fifty years is a long
time and still they are refusing to change. We need to make our people
aware and sensitive citizens, not voters. Proud citizens. Indian people
are raw and pure, untouched by the cluttered garbage of urbanity. They
can't be turned into eternally passive receptacles of the urban
kaleidoscope which they are supposed to watch and absorb from a distance.
They must hit back. You can't kill Dalits, burn women in funeral pyres,
take the roti away from their hands. What incredible suffering. They must
hit back. I really feel like hitting back."

As a farewell note. She is still vibrant and the night is passing by. "We
need people who can reach out with a different kind of message. Gandhi did
not wear saffron, but white. And he did it. And look what they have done
to the colour white."
------------------------
#4.
[Posting on an Indian Environmentalists E-mail list]

WE SHUT DOWN WTO !!!

Wed, 01 Dec 1999 09:31:06 -0800

Greetings from the Battle in Seattle!

Yesterday I had the honor to participate in one of the most amazing
protests I've ever been a part of. Tens of thousands of people took to the
streets of Seattle to shut down the WTO ministerial meetings in Seattle. It
was the most amazing range of progressive groups I have ever seen -- from
Steelworkers to Lesbian Avengers to the Falun Gong to local environmental
justice groups to the animal rights crowd...an incredible spectrum of
people who would normally never agree on anything. But they all agree that
the WTO is a threat to democracy in the US and around the world.

As you probably heard, we were incredibly, surprisingly successful. This
massive, peaceful protest occupied the streets of downtown Seattle and
physically blocked the WTO delegates from entering the convention center.
The US delegation, including Charlene Barshefsky, Madeleine Albright and
officials of the US Commerce Department were not able to leave their
hotels. Third world delegates wandered the streets, unharmed and
unharrassed, but unable to convene. The opening sessions were cancelled,
and only 250 of the expected 3000 participants ever managed to make it
inside.

The protestors accomplished this by putting their bodies on the line.
Thousands and thousands of people formed a human chain around the
convention center, linked arms, blocked traffic and physically but
nonviolently shut down the city center. It was an amazing demonstration of
the power of the people to derail the corporate agenda; and of the
determination of ordinary people to defend their rights.

In solidarity,
Neil Tangri

__________________________________________
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.