[sacw] sacw dispatch 1st Jan.2000

Harsh Kapoor act@egroups.com
Sun, 2 Jan 2000 01:38:24 +0100


South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch
1st January 2000
___________________
#1. South Asia Peace Conference in Calcutta
#2. Bangladesh: Secular Activists grand rally in Dhaka on 2nd Jan.
#2. Let us work for a new dawn in the New Millennium
___________________
#1.
Calcutta on net [http://www.calonline.com]
29 December 1999

=46ormer Pak army officials likely to join peace conference in city=20

December 28: A good number of senior army officials of Pakistan may march
hand in hand with their Indian counterparts at a 100,000 strong peace
march on January 19 in Calcutta. About 60 human rights activists of
Pakistan have applied for visa-including the ex-army officials-to attend
the 12th South Asian peace meet under the aegis of the Akhil Bharat
Rachanatmak Samaj, a forum of Gandhian constructive workers and Harijan
Sevak Sangha, that are together hosting the annual All India Constructive
Workers' Conference at Yuva Bharati Krirangan between January 18 and 20.

Disclosing this in Calcutta today, former MP, Kumari Nirmala Deshpandey,
spiritual daughter of the legendary Sarvodaya leader, Acharya Vinobha
Bhabe, said that among the 15, 000 delegates that are expected to be
participating, are a good number of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan,
Nepalese and Bhutanese peace and village level activists.

Taking part in the press meet, member of the Rajya Sabha and central
committee of the CPI(M), Biplab Dasgupta, stated that the peace march
would be flagged off by the West Bengal chief minister, Jyoti Basu and the
key note address on January 18 would be delivered by the former CPI MP,
Hiren Mukherjee. The various sessions include one on peace initiatives in
South Asia under the banner of Association of Peoples of Asia and
non-violent agriculture, which in a sense is organic farming, Deshpande
added. Eminent Pakistani intellectuals who have expressed willingness to
join are Mubarak Ali, well known scholar on Islamic history, Taher
Mohammad Khan, former minister in the Benazir Bhutto cabinet and chairman
of Baluchistan Human Rights Committee and Karachi-based trade union leader
Karamat Ali. "There are about 1, 000 participants from Jammu and Kashmir
who will take part in our three-day conference," Deshpande stated.

_____________
#2.
Daily Star
1st January 2000

Campaign against anti-liberation forces
Grand rally at Paltan Maidan[Dhaka] tomorrow

Members of different progressive political parties along with
intellectuals, cultural activists, professionals and students will throng
the historic Paltan maidan in the capital at 2 pm tomorrow aiming to
launch a countrywide campaign against anti-liberation forces and for a ban
communal politics in the country, reports BSS. All necessary preparations
have been completed to hold the grand national rally. Progressive people
from the rally will take a fresh vow to root out communal politics from
the country and hold trial of the collaborators of the Pakistani
occupation forces in the new millennium, the rally organisers say.

"The main objective of holding the rally under the banner of "Ekatturer
Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Jatiya Samannaya Committee" is to free the country
from the clutches of "Razakars" (Collaborators) in the next millennium,"
convenor of the committee Syed Hasan Imam told BSS yesterday.

"We are thinking of a collaborator free secular country to uphold the
spirit of the country's war of liberation in the next millennium where the
trial of the killers and collaborators of the 1971 will take place," Imam
said.

He said a series of countrywide programmes would be announced against the
collaborators from the grand rally expected to be one of the larger
gatherings of progressive forces in recent years.

Meanwhile, a representative meeting of different political parties,
cultural workers, and professionals was held at the BMA Bhaban on
Wednesday with convenor of the Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Jatiya Sammannaya
Committee Syed Hasan Imam in the chair.

The meeting discussed various aspects to make the programme a success
through bringing of the pro-liberation progressive forces to a single
platform.

Besides, Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, an alliance of different cultural
groups, yesterday brought out a procession on the city streets with a
renewed pledge to build a secular Bangladesh in the next millennium.

The procession attended by educationists, journalists, cultural activists,
students and eminent citizens of the country, began from the Dhaka
University campus and ended at the Jatiya Press Club premises.

The processionists carried national flags and placards inscribing
different slogans against the anti-liberation elements in the country.

Jote president Ramendu Majumder, journalist and columnist Faiz Ahmed,
Artiste Syed Hasan Imam, Director General of Bangla Academy Dr Syed Anwar
Hossain, writer Shariar Kabir, BFUJ president Abul Kalam Azad, journalists
Azizul Islam Bhuiyan, Shafiqur Rahman, freedom fighter and women leader
Rawshan Jahan Sathi, Hasan Arif, Kamal Pasha Chowdhury, Tarik Sujat and
journalist Enamul Haq Babul, among others, took part in the procession.
_____________
#3.
January 1, 2000

Let us work for a new dawn in the New Millennium
By V.B.Rawat

As we are nearing to end the year, the cold wave and foggy season has made
the visibility on the road very difficult. The future of the Indian
subcontinent seems to be that blurred when we embark on a new century next
year. 20th century saw the dawn of democratic regimes and terminology of
human rights getting wider respect and acceptability, the violence as part
of disagreement with the state also became the hall mark of this century.
But the end would be like this as we have been witnessing for the past few
days in Kandahar, was not imagined.

The well known fact is that democracy is a majority view point where
minority's choice and thoughts are considered to be detrimental to the
'national' interest, while majority's demand's and view point are turned as
'nationalism'. In most of the so-called democracies of the sub-continent
such things were witnessed during the last fifty years resulting in utter
chaos, bloodshed and turmoil. Intellectual's from India always harped on
the thesis on the great democratic vision of our 'secular' leaders and
plural society where every one live with peace. Was it true in the last
fifty years. Who were the victims of the state controlled violence ? The
notoriety of police force like PAC in Uttar-Pradesh is well known. Even the
central forces stood silent in Ayodhya on December 6th, 1992. The role of
Bombay police in the Bombay massacre is well known. All over India, the
police oppression against the Dalits, tribal and Muslims remains unabated.
In the name of TADA, ISI, displacement, dams, protest over wages, Naxalism,
communism , separatism and so on and on.. The list is long and so are the
pressure techniques of the State. Apart from this, the role of state has
been ambiguous to the problems of these sections of society. So Indians
have seen a brahmanical domination over the administration, army and
judiciary in the last fifty years in the name of either secularism or
Hindutva, the situation in other parts of the subcontinent is worst.
Pakistan, whose tryst with democracy seems to falter every time when
politicians and people feel that institutions are taking root there.
Pakistan was born in the name of Urdu and Islam, though Jinnah promised in
his constituent assembly address in Pakistan that it would be a secular
socialist republic which he would like to preside over, but that was a
dream which died with Jinnah itself. Pakistan=92s Punjabi dominated military
and political leadership could never digest any Urdu speaking migrant elite
to dominate them. Mohajir's are foreigner's in their own country while the
plight of Ahmadi=92s is well known to us. The condition of minorities in
Pakistan can not be a matter of satisfaction for any civilised government
and political establishment in the world. The relief with which the
Pakistan people looked after dislodge of Nawaz Sharif and Benzir's
government and political parties clearly indicate how frustrated the people
have become with political leaders. The challenges from women to the
religious class which include the so-called

liberals and fundamentalists have always created social turmoil in the
subcontinent. We have heard even Liberal Hindus and Muslims condemning
Tasleema Nasreen and Kamala Das Suraiya as both exposed their so called
religion. Both have found virtue beyond their original religion. However,
it could be a matter of discussion whether any right thinking rationalists
person can find solace in the limited walls created by the religion. Some
years back, Tehmina Durani wrote " My feudal Lord" exposing the anti-woman
feudal society of Pakistan elite. We in India do not lag behind on the
issue. Neither other parts of the subcontinent lag behind on the issue of
women's suppression.

But suddenly, our media has developed the concept of women=92s liberation
through beauty parades. The way this entire business of beauty has been
highlighted by the press in India does not give good sign. It does not give
any credit to our media. The same media which highlight the irrational
culture of the country in the name of faith, glorify the beauty business
and termed them as the 'women of substance'. We always say that
prostitution was a compulsion for the poor but what is it for the rich and
corporate. Perhaps business. This subcontinent had a number of women prime
ministers from Sirmao and Chandrika in Sril Lanka, Indira Gandhi in India,
Benzir in Pakistan and Khalida Zia and Shaikh Hasina in Bangladesh. Can
these women really termed as those who have done something for the rights
of women. In fact, most of them were highly fundamentalist and served the
male society. They were more interested in projecting them as more
religious and cultural one, just like any other household women who live in
the male dominated society under the shadow of her husband and male rules.

Since the right to information has been hijacked by the feudal media in all
the countries, it has become difficult to have people to people contact in
the subcontinent. There are some elite organisation, far away from the
people working in this area but how can the news-papers, books, articles be
shared in both the countries. How can we meet them, share our grievances.
As long as we believe the official nationalistic version of our country
being fetched through our official and so-called independent media, we will
always make ourselves as enemies of each other. The political leadership
and beaurocracies of both India and Pakistan could not sit and sort out
their genuine problems. Is it not a betrayal to partition fifty years back
when we had thought that partition would sort our all the problems and now
on wards we shall be living in peace and neighbours, but also a betrayal to
the people of the subcontinent who now need reconciliation. Have we become
mature enough to think in these terms of reconciliation as we approach a
new millennium.

In Sri-Lanka which is the only surviving democracy apart from India during
the last fifty years. However, democracy in Sri-Lanka also meant
consolidation of Sinhala power and isolation of Tamils over the years.
Pushed to the wall, the Tamil=92s obviously succumbed to the massive
propaganda of the subversive forces like LTTE which considered that only a
separate Tamil state was the right answer to solve the ethnic problem of
Sri-Lanka. India did support the subversive activities in the earlier days
and later on send its own army there to fight the Tamil Tigers, which was
seen as grand Indian imperialist designs by a large number of people in
Sri-Lanka. Rajiv Gandhi was the first major victim of LTTE who later on
killed a large number of Tamil leaders in Sri-Lanka including Lalith
Atulath Mudli, Neelam Tiruvechalam. The last attempt was made on president
Kumartunga when she had just finished an election meeting in Colombo. Now
where will these violent method take either to Tamil forces or the Sinhalas
who will definitely retaliate in the form of state repression. But any
demand for separate independent state will have wide repurcussion as it
will only add strength to those who believe in greater Tamil Nationalism
which has still a large number of votaries in Tamilnadu.

Bangladesh was born in 1971 with a revolt by Bangla people against the west
Pakistan's Punjabi-Sindhi domination over them. Bangladesh showed that
partition in the name of religion was not only wrong but thoroughly
unjustified. But the fundamentalist leadership in Bangladesh could not
tolerate democracy.. It had seen many military rulers including those who
now swear with democracy and secularism. The truth is that Bangladesh is
trading a difficult path.. the Bangla identity question seems to be getting
diluted and it is the religious identity which has become dominant there
again endangering the long tradition of Bangla people who fought together
against the communal onslaught of the Raj. Bangladesh is the latest victim
of fundamentalist forces who want the issues of the masses like illiteracy,
poverty, hunger in the backburner but their religion should dominate come
what. Taslima Nasreen could not have faced the danger on her life had the
fundamentalist forces in Bangladesh not grown up during the past few years.
Unfortunately, they are rapidly rising and hence the main problem in this
tiny state is not to fight against poverty, illiteracy and corruption but
fundamentalism.

The less said about Nepal is the better. A country which proudly proclaim
to be the only Hindu country and due to which the 'secular' Indian
government's always opened their door without any Visa, seems to be
bothering the nation more than Pakistan. Nepal never tested the British Raj
but it had its own Hindu Raj which destroyed it completely. Today, there is
a democracy which has lost its significance as corruption has pervaded in
all the political parties, as the issues of landless peasants, Dalits,
women=92s are not taken interest by those in power. Nepal has become a hot
bed for terrorists forces operating which has become easier during the past
few years. The lone Hindu nation of the world has not been able to give
justice to Dalits during the past fifty years. The Kamaya system is still a
blot on the face of Nepalese society. The monarchy in Nepal created its own
colony. Today, Nepal is a boom for NGO industry being funded from abroad
but other industries are no where in Nepal. Democracy could not give the
poorest of the poor a say in the decision making of the country. The King
enjoys the inner-fight among the politicians.

Where do the South Asian go in the new millennium ? Will they force their
government to join together and stop playing with their lives ? And the
biggest question is that how minority view point is accommodated ? Minority
view point does not necessarily mean minority's view point. Will our
government come together and think over the issue of Kashmir.. How long
will we do this ? It has become an issue for both India and Pakistan which
no side would like itself to be seen as having lost the territory ? This is
also a fact that nobody in India and Pakistan is ready to dilute his/her
position on Kashmir because of political compulsion. It mean a political
suicide ? But then how long will we allow butchering of our people by the
rising militancy. For us they are militants but for a large number of
ethno-religious minorities they are the freedom fighters ? As the years,
passed our ruling elite failed to understand this parochialism which term
as nationalism. In 1984, Mrs Indira Gandhi, to assure the Hindus about
their future in Punjab, allowed an army operation in the Golden Temple,
Amritsar. A large number of people from both sides were killed. There were
revolt by Sikh groups in the forces but by and large the country passed
peacefully. On October 31st, 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated at her
residence=8A and the next three days would be counted as the darkest days in
the history of post independence India. In utter disregard to law and
administration, the Police with the help of those in power butchered
civilian Sikhs as a mark of 'teach them a lesson'. The Sikh had lost a
complete faith in the Indian government at Delhi which they considered as
the one trying to denigrate them and their religion.

On December 6th, 1992, when the Dalits of India offer their tribute to
their father Dr Ambedkar, the Brahmanical forces lead by the Sangh Parivar
exposed its tolerance. Babri Masjid was demolished in the broad day light
under the very protection of those forces which keenly entered the Golden
Temple. Why ? After the demolition, the Sangh mind went on rampages and
Kanpur, Baroda, Surat and Bombay saw their worst anti-Muslim disturbances
with active participation of the local admnistration and police.

These two things have an interesting contrast. The Sikhs during 1984 period
were always a suspect in the eyes of law. The were something different
creature who were out to damage India. They had gathered ammunition at the
Golden temple=92 hence they needed to be flushed out. Now the goondas and
miscreants of Sangh Parivar did the same thing at Ayodhya on December 6th
and the aftermath but they are not termed as either terrorists or
militants. The Policemen at the duty offered them water and shared their
'prasad'. One former chief minister was proudly proclaiming his allegiance
to Lord Rama rather than to the constitution of India. Though, the Sangh
Parivar has thrown him away to his right place. A non Brahmin, even if he
is an Advani has nothing in the scheme of RSS and its allied organisation.

The plunderer become nationalists of modern Hindu Rastra which proudly
display Pepsi and Coke at the Gandhi Samadhi with active yes from the
Gandhians. Today, we are told to understand our culture.. make a pilgrimage
to Ayodhya. It is further added that our tolerance has a limit.. The
Muslims and Christians are crossing the limit.. they are fundamentalists. I
do not know what do they mean by tolerance=8AIs it tolerance when you would
not allow a Dalit to wear slipper in his village.. Is it tolerance when you
are not allowing them to either enter the temples or not allowing them to
celebrate their functions whether marriages or any other one. Where is our
tolerance vis-a vis Dalits and tribal.

=46or the past 8 days, our TV, media is 100% hijacked by the hijackers in
Kandahar. without showing any sympathy for the criminals who have done it,
one need to ask the question whether our heart beat increases when the
violence is committed on Dalits, tribal, minorities or even the upper caste
whose class is much below than those elite air travellers. Right from
Shankarbigha to Laxmanpur Bathe to Chundur to Kumher, we cannot get
anything from our media..the upper caste dominated media which has hijacked
our right to information. It is this media in the last 10 years which
continue to deny us information. It is the corporate media. It is the media
which want to portray everything as truth which its master=92s are
manipulating. Thus, our news-papers wholeheartedly support the
liberalisation process. They are more keen than the political parties to
pass every legislation passed that the United States of America want us to
do but when the question of entry of foreign media in India come, these
same mediamen turn angry against the government. Here they make lot of
noises about the future of the country and everything after allowing every
one from Star to BBC in the electronic media to capture our skies. It is
the double standard which our dominating elite has been talking for the
past fifty years. Look, how the Indian media has been projecting the WTO
fiasco. A self proclaimed economist writes in his weekly column that since
the communism has finished politically from Europe, it is still existing in
the form of NGOs. He was very unhappy with the labour standard and
environmental talk being pursued by the NGOs at the Seattle meeting. For
the last 20 years our media has been writing endlessly on the need to
reduce the subsidy from Petroleum products including Petrol, Diesel,
Kerosene a and cooking gas as we need to compete with the international
market, than why are we opposing to follow the same labour standard which
a European and American company maintain for its labours.

Hence when we enter the New Millennium, there should be more interaction
with each other specially the peace brigade of the subcontinent. Our
leaders have made their coffer full by persistently pursuing the hard line
agenda and continuous defence budget. A change has seen in the last few
years, the government does not say anything but the 'dalals'. They want the
government to increase the defence budget, do this and that. Our leaders do
not have the shame that we have the largest number of illiterate and poor
people in the world. One want to retain Kashmir and the other want to
capture it at whatever cost, as if they have fulfilled all other obligation
to their people. How will we force our leaders to think on the people=92s
issue. Will we respect a note on dissent or term him as a rebel.

The outstanding part of the last ten years was the coming together of
activists of the subcontinent and their supporters and friends outside.
Email and Internet has to some extent broken the monopoly of the media. At
least, it is not their sole domain, and we are happy to find news clipping
from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri-Lanka and similarly, I am sure,
friends of these countries should be happy with these events. Let us hope
that our bond will be strengthened since internet users in the
subcontienent are very few, it will great if we pass on this information to
the grass-roots in their own language and bring their stories to each other
by such forums. It will thus completely break the monopoly of the
=91professionals.=92 We should not feel sorry for our circulation as I feel =
it
personally that even if 100 committed people reads us, it is much better
than writing for an English daily where edit page is regularly passing
through a denigration and the average reader does not read it.

I am particularly mentioning two names of Mr Harsh Kapoor and SP Udaykumar
for their immense contribution in bringing the South Asian activists
together and making a people's agneda for this region who has turned as one
of most dangerous zone not only from the view point of armament but also
due to illiteracy, hunger and malnutrition. I must thank them on part of
all the activists.. Let us begin the new millennium with a challenge to
those who have purposedly put the people's issues on the backburner.

Hope their will be peace and prosperity all over the world and we will be
more civilised and sensitised towards those denied basic human rights for
long. Let us hope that the new millennium will be the millennium of
rational and radical democracies all over the world where the basic agenda
of the government would be on education, human rights and human development
__________________________________________
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.