[sacw] SACW Dispatch | 12 Aug. 00

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch
12 August 2000
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

#1. Pakistan: On Hindus in Pakistan
#2. India: After The Kashmir Ceasefire - Reviving the peace process
#3. India: How the Kashmir Valley's poor, are using the Dal Lake for surviv=
al
#4. India: Gujarat's Tribal Belt Awaits Another Communal Carnage - Appeal
for Action
#5. India: Talk in Bombay on Secularism & Mass Media (14 August)
#6. Pakistani Diaspora / USA: Anti-Kalabagh Dam Protest Rally In
Washington, DC 514 Aug.)

_____________________

#1.

The Friday Times
11 August 2000

A STRIPE OF WHITE
HIDDEN HINDUS

by Shandana Minhas

The second in a six part series on religious minorities in Pakistan

What is it like being a Hindu in Pakistan, you wonder. I find the answer
in various things. First, a letter from a Hindu friend dated October 1999.
She wrote from college in the States: "When I first got here, I was already
looking forward to the winter break so I could come back to Karachi and see
my friends and family. The next break I was a little less excited, the next
even less so. And now, I find myself looking for ways to prolong my stay
here. Not because I've met a man better than someone I might have found in
Karachi, but because here I don't have to wonder how long it is before he
plays the religion card and says hey we had a great time I love you madly,
but I just don't think my family... I remember how I felt at realizing that
to my friends, though they were my friends, I would always in some way be
an outsider. Don't they realize how cruel that is? Why can't they see me
for who I am and not my religion. I'm not even a particularly religious
person!"

The 1991 census estimated the number of religious minorities in Pakistan
(assuming Shia+Sunni=3DMuslim) at around five per cent, out of which 1.51 p=
er
cent were Hindu. Representatives of minority groups disagreed at the time
and said they were "underrepresented". The latest estimates put the number
of Hindus in Pakistan at just under three million. The fact that a large
percentage of this community resides in rural Sindh where borders are
porous, life transitory, and government efficiency a fairy tale ensures an
"estimate" will remain just that.

A report by lawyer and activist Hina Jillani states that the Hindu tribal
communities of Kohlis and Behls "constitute more than half of the
agricultural labour force of Sindh, and are amongst the most oppressed of
all haris." Their lands have been forcibly occupied by influential
landlords, their daughters abducted, forcibly converted and then married
off to complete strangers from an alien community. Their economic and
religious status conspire to make their lives a favourite repast for the
vultures of official apathy and societal intolerance.

What is it like to be a Hindu in Pakistan? The answers come as hints
rather than full replies. P.K. Shahani is a prominent Sindhi lawyer. His
brother Narayan Shahani has recently been appointed to the security
exchange commission of Pakistan. The other Hindu names you hear are Naveen
Perwani (snooker player) and Deepak Perwani (self-proclaimed fashion
designer). Actually, most people aren't sure if these people are Hindu or
just sound Hindu. There are Hindus in music, Hindus in journalism
(especially Sindh), Hindu women walking to work in the streets in their
graceful saris. There are middle class Hindus with small homes and Japanese
cars. There are Hindu businessmen with recently acquired respectability
whose fortunes are based on converting contacts made through intelligent
and friendly bootlegging into contracts made in heaven. There are Hindu
brat packers, scions of wealthy families who do nothing but party hard.
There are banyas in interior Sindh, traders and shopkeepers. There are
middle class Hindu Generation X's. There is a Hindu drummer in the local
band Brain Masalla. Hindus are in every strata of society, but somehow they
seem to be nowhere at all.

The writer of the letter has since started a process that will allow her
to be an American citizen. Had she returned here she would have been a
Pakistani biochemist.

Hindus believe a soul should be free to leave this realm of existence
unburdened by the weight of its mortality. Some rivers are sacred to the
Hindus (the Ganges is said to be like the rippling waves in the hair of a
God), water is considered a purifier. The pyre on the banks of a river also
emphasise the ephemeral nature of life to those attending it. Samskara, the
rite of passage, bids the departed farewell and helps give the bereaved a
sense of closure.

The body is prepared by the application of holy ash on the forehead and
the recitation of mantras, more orthodox Hindus follow a longer and more
rigorous preparation procedure. The procession carrying the body to the
pyre is led by the son. As it is laid on its pyre draped with flowers
garlands, all observe in silence. When it is burnt down the priest recites
prayers over it, the ashes are collected. Ideally, they will be poured into
a holy river. After a designated period of mourning during which austerity
is practiced in dress, food and behaviour, a ceremony called shraddah is
carried out in which prayers are said for the departed and offering made to
the poor.

The Hindus believe a soul is born into a body, and when the body dies, the
soul passes into a higher or lower being (a man or a rat) according to the
karma he has earned. When a soul reaches a state of enlightenment it breaks
the cycle of reincarnation and passes back into Brahma, the spirit that
runs through the universe.

Once a year there is an unusual number of bangs in the city. People look
at each other and nod, "It must be divali." There is a also trend amongst
fiery big-mouthed 90s women to include a rang amongst their wedding
ceremonies. Everyone runs around throwing colour on each other and
squealing. In the leading papers' yearly "round-up of architecture Karachi
should be proud of" the Hindu Gymkhana and Swami Narayan Mandir are pointed
out, freshly photographed. The twisted implementation of the blasphemy law
and the rabidity of zealots ensure that the Hindu community maintains a low
profile. The many festivals in their religious calendar are celebrated
softly.

Divali is the festival of lights, celebrated at the end of the Hindu old
year to usher in the new year, through tribute to the goddess Lakshmi, who
brings blessing and prosperity to her worshippers. It coincides with the
return of Rama after 14 years in exile. The word itself comes from
"dipwali" or "row of lights". The lamps are placed at windows and doors to
drive away the night and shed light into darkness, symbolizing the victory
of good over evil and the beauty of life despite the imminence of death. It
is celebrated in October or November.

The Holi festival comes at the end of winter and the advent of spring.
Colour and powder fly through the end and out the end of water guns. It can
be seen as symbolic of the blooming of flowers after the desert of winter.
Holi comes from Holika, a fire demon summoned by her evil tyrant brother
Hiranya to kill his seemingly indestructible son. The son is sustained by
his faith in Vishnu, the demons are destroyed. Holi is about adding colour
to life through truth and faith in the goodness of it all.

There is Dassehra or "the tenth", which comes at the end of nine nights of
hymns to the goddess Durga. Falling between September and October, the
ritual is considered important for brides and engaged women.

Falling around July and August is Raksha Bandhan where women tie strings
around the wrists of men they are related to for their protection.

Hindu festivals are rich and diverse, as is their contribution to the
roots of Pakistani culture. The Indus valley civilization threw up statues
of goddess and animals, the influence of Hinduism was prevalent in Harappa
and Taxila too. There are many sites In Pakistan that are near sacred to
Hindus, including Manora Island which some feel is "only several hundred
kilometers" away from what used to be the kingdom of an avatar of the god
Vishnu.

There must have been a time when the borders of co-existing religions were
porous too. The colour, festivity and scent of many Muslim wedding
ceremonies find their roots in Hindu festivals.

The Hindu wedding ceremony, as seen on TV or in an Indian movie, is even
more colourful than its Pakistani counterpart. There are numerous festivals
involving music, dancing and colour. The ceremony itself is conducted in
Sanskrit. It starts out with a prayer, followed by identification of the
two to be wed, then the "evocation of virtue" in which anyone who feels
this marriage cannot proceed is given a chance to step forward. Next the
two stand facing each other as blessing and rice, are showered upon them.
The priest offers tribute to the fire, which is considered the
manifestation of God, the couple exchange vows. Then they circle the divine
fire seven times, tied together as companions on the path of life. A modern
Karachi Hindu wedding often incorporates a reception at another venue where
guests can greet the newly married couple.

The homepage of the Pakistani Hindu Association states: "Traditionally,
Pakistani Hindus have not referred to the name of their religion as
'Hinduism'. This was a name given by foreigners to identify those people
living in the vicinity of the Sindhu River. Pakistani Hindus have always
referred to their religion as Vedic Dharm. Sometimes, Vedic Dharm is also
referred to as the Aryan religion."

What is it like to be Hindu in an Islamic republic? Since others are
always defining you, you try your best to provide the definitions yourself.

Hinduism is a religion that is vast in scope in terms of its rituals, and
the sheer volume of deities associated with it. Ultimately, the source of
all its ritual and myth lies in the concept of Brahma, the spirit that runs
through the universe. "Impersonal and indestructible", it was, is and
always will be, the philosophy goes. It is seen as creator, preserver and
destroyer. And hence the three main Hindu Deities are Brahma the creator,
Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer. Vasihnavism has the most
followers at 80 per cent while Shivaism (devotees of Shiva the destroyer)
is popular in Tamil South India. Hinduism also recognizes avatars,
incarnations of one of the three Gods. Two of the avatars of the god
Vishnu, Rama and Krishna, are very important figures in Hindu mythology.
Hindus also hold animals sacred, as some of them are considered avatars of
important gods. Especially popular are Ganesha the elephant headed and
Hanuman the monkey headed god.

A belief in Hinduism does not stipulate loyalty to any one of these Gods,
it is understood that everyone has a personal deity. Puja, or worship, can
be done in any place. It simply involves offerings of kum kum, rice, fruit,
flowers, incense or light to an image of the deity and a recitation of
sacred texts. Any place where puja is offered is a shrine. A temple on the
other hand is the house of a deity.

What is it like?

There are two brothers, Jagdeep and Mukesh. Mukesh is intelligent and
articulate and always in the top three at his school, one of the leading
boys school in Karachi. His brother Jagdeep is one year younger and in the
same school. He has been plagued with discipline problems. The
administration keeps calling his parents and telling them to do something
about it or they will be forced to take strong action. The parents say he
gets into fights because he is constantly provoked with taunts of "Hindu
%#%" and "Hindu &&^". "Why can't you be more like Mukesh?" they tell him.
"When people say these things to him he doesn't react, you must learn to do
that too". Jagdeep says he can't help himself, he just feels so angry. In
an effort to find him an alternate vent for his frustration, he is enrolled
in a tae kwon do programme. He excels and finds he loves physical activity.
He starts playing squash in a preppy club and is soon given a high seed in
the club tournament. On the eve of the tournament he gets into a fight when
another competitor plays the religion card. His racquets are broken. He
starts making excuses not to go. Finally, his mother puts his racquets
away.

Mukesh and Jagdeep's parents have sent them both to relatives abroad and
intend to follow them soon. They say they love Karachi, they have been here
for generations, but they want their children to grow up safe, secure and
with a sense of belonging. Moving to a different country means starting
over, but they feel they are doing what is best for their children.

Like monotheistic religions, Hindus have a body of text they use as guides
to the Hindu way of life or the Vaidika Dharma. The roots of all
information are the Vedas, in Sanskrit, which are believed to be shruti or
"that which is revealed." The later scriptures are smriti or "tradition"
and include the epics Mahabharta, and Ramayana and the Bhagavad Gita.
Hinduism is considered to be the predecessor to Buddhism in the belief that
there are many paths to the same goal.

What is it like to be Hindu in Pakistan? A woman in my apartment building
tells her driver to tell one of the other men in the compound not to stare
when she walks by. Her driver reacts angrily, telling her "aap kahain to
uss ka sur phar dain gay, wo vaisay bhi Hindu hai, koi kuch nahin kahay
ga."

The number of Hindus in the coastal metropolis of Karachi lurks around
100,000. Some work in the municipal co-operations, untouchables condemned
by caste (in some cases, circumstances) to clean up other people's mess. A
lot of the names we catch while skimming a city page bite titled "Cleaners
die after inhaling toxic fumes while cleaning sewer", are Hindu.

What is it like? Apart from the rituals and the texts and the philosophy,
being a part of a religion also means the baggage that comes with it. The
assumptions people make about what a religion stands for are applied across
the board to the antics of its fanatical elements and the passivity of its
masses. A man calling himself a Muslim blows up a building and all Muslim
nations are called "terrorist". A mob tries to destroy a revered mosque in
India and a mob in Karachi goes on the rampage and destroys all the temples
and shrines it can. Such people demonstrate the insecurity of their belief
in their own faith when they demonize another.

What is it like?

Venu Advani is from a Sindhi family settled in Karachi for generations. He
is now the last of the family to remain here. He has many things to say
about being a Hindu in Karachi. He starts off by telling me about the
appropriation of the Hindu Gymkhana premises by the SSP offices, Aligarh
Hall and the Muslim Gymkhana. "There are no clubs for us, the names
engraved on the walls of the Hindu Gymkhana mean something to us, but we
are denied access to them. Why should people be denied their heritage?"

He also raises the infamous question of why religion is featured on the
Pakistani passport. "Why is religion on the passports? I really feel that
the minorities have been put at such a disadvantage, because every time you
want to fight for your rights you keep quiet because you know the other guy
can turn around and accuse you of blasphemy." He tells me that in the
entire history of Pakistan "to date not one Hindu has acted in collusion
with India. Pakistanis maybe, but not one Hindu. Yet we are picked on. This
is a hangover from partition days when we were branded a community that had
to be watched." He says the area around Swami Narayan Mandir has been taken
over, uptil a few years ago the Hindus living inside found themselves at
the mercy of fundamentalist elements bent on punishing the local Hindu
community for the turmoil in India, especially after the destruction of the
Babri Mosque when countless shrines and temples were destroyed. As yet, no
concrete steps have been taken to rebuild them.

It is difficult for minorities to find a forum to address their problems.
The separate electorate system means there are candidates at large; most of
them are not familiar with the problems of a particular area. Each of the
four NA members for Hindus and scheduled (read backwards) castes represents
at least 300,000 people. Since the minorities have no voting power to
interest Muslim parliamentarians in their area, their complaints go unheard
and unattended.

Mr Advani is in the process of moving his family abroad. He says that in
itself is not just because of the prejudice, but also because the new face
of Pakistan is one he does not want to be a part of. He brings up the
interesting point that the Hindu community in Pakistan is shrinking
because migrant workers and people from other provinces are outnumbering
Sindhis in the city. The wave of people in search of work and money to send
home to their families has no love for this city. They come in here, abuse
it, and leave. Because they don't have ties to it they treat it badly. The
old Karachiites, a lot of whom were Hindu or Parsi or Christians, are
losing ground to these newcomers because their religious status
automatically puts them on the back foot.

Were things always like this? "This prejudice didn't exist 40 or 50 years
ago. It's a new thing, and you can't blame the kids or the new generation.
For them, a Hindu in the classroom is a rarity, why should they go out of
their way to make them feel like a part of their culture?"

What is it like? Accomplished PTV actress Hafeez Fatima tells me while on
a shoot in the predominantly Hindu area between Mithi and Nagaparker in
Thar "Hindu kay ghar mein baithna, sona aur khana gunah hota hai." During a
ride across the dunes in a dilapidated jeep the next day I take delight in
telling her the driver is a Hindu. He obligingly flashes a gold-capped grin
at her. "Aap kay dramay bohat acchay hotay hain". She has the grace to look
embarrassed.

______

#2.

Praful Bidwai Column
14 August 2000

AFTER THE KASHMIR CEASEFIRE
REVIVING THE PEACE PROCESS

By Praful Bidwai

The easiest--and intellectually, the laziest--response to the collapse of
the Hizbul Mujahideen's ceasefire is to lapse into the cynical belief that
nothing ever changes in Kashmir. The next easiest--but perhaps even more
reprehensible--response is to argue that so long as an India-unfriendly
regime rules in Islamabad, no Kashmir truce can hold. Regrettably, the
Vajpayee government has chosen the second option and unleashed a tirade
against Pakistan, although there is little evidence that it is
Islamabad--and not the 15 other groups that form the Jehad Council with
HM-that impelled Syed Salahuddin to stick to his ludicrously unrealistic
deadline for involving Pakistan in tripartite talks. If anything, Gen
Pervez Musharraf would today be loath to seem to be impeding a peace
process in Kashmir just when he faces severe international isolation.

If New Delhi pursues a narrow and parochial Pakistan-bashing agenda--and Mr
Advani's strident August 9 statement suggests it would-it risks losing the
gains it scored by welcoming the ceasefire and entering into a dialogue
with HM on the rationale of insaniyat, and without nitpicking
preconditions. This was an act of unusual, indeed exceptional, wisdom on
its part. It is still possible for it to revive the peace and
reconciliation process-despite the terrible August 10 bomb blasts in
Srinagar. It is in everybody's interest that a dialogue is re-started and a
new ceasefire brought into effect. This is precisely what J&K's people need
after a decade of bloodletting.

Admittedly, much went wrong with the dialogue process. It was severely
under-prepared. There was no agreed agenda. Officially, bureaucrats rather
than politicians handled it. And HM's guerrillas couldn't appreciate
political subtleties, e.g. Mr Vajpayee's attempt to work around rather than
within the Constitution. However, the "16-day wonder" showed the following,
for the first time in 11 years:

* Many people in the Valley now see a ray of hope in peace, not in winning
a war.

* A new divide is opening up within the azaadi movement between those with
a pan-Islamic, jehadi agenda and those with a political agenda The first
only allows unrelenting war. The second admits of negotiation,
reconciliation and accommodation.

* Even the meaning of azaadi (ranging from greater autonomy within a more
federal India to full nationhood) is open to discussion. Leaders like
Mirwaiz Omar Farooq openly say so.

* There is a far wider political-level consensus on a dialogue with HM than
even on the National Conference's "autonomy" demand. The great symbolic
importance of diverse leaders--from Messrs Vajpayee, Mulayam Singh and
Somnath Chatterjee to Ms Sonia Gandhi--all showing up together in Pahalgam
on August 3 shouldn't be lost.

* Even the hysterical elements in the sangh parivar did not condemn the
HM-government dialogue outright-until after August 8.

* Indian forces suspended or substantially downgraded their offensive
operations in response to HM's unilateral ceasefire. The people welcomed
this. For the first time, army and HM personnel even played a cricket match
in Kupwara district.

Some of these developments were symbolic. But symbols do matter. The Lahore
bus too is a symbol of sorts. But it would be a big setback if it were to
stop plying. Symbols of peace and reconciliation now have a chance to
replace symbols of war and confrontation in Kashmir. This could potentially
reduce violence and produce the aman (peace) people crave for. The time is
surely ripe for a de facto ceasefire. If the government goes the extra mile
in that direction and keeps an informal dialogue going, it can regain the
initiative that HM lost through its political immaturity and insistence on
Pakistan's involvement in the talks at this early stage.

HM's ceasefire offer didn't come out of the blue. It was prepared through
Track-II level contacts over six months, especially between Hurriyat
leaders, militant groups, Vajpayee-appointed mediators like R.K. Mishra and
M.K. Rasgotra, US-based Kashmiris like Farooq Kathwari, Ghulam Nabi Fai,
Ayoob Thakur and Mansoor Ejaz, as well as Indian and Pakistani officials.
By all indications, the US played a crucial, if quiet, role in nudging all
concerned towards a dialogue. Pakistan too appears to have had a hand. The
statements of some officials and of Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Husain
Ahmed--especially after mid-July when he met senior US State department
officials, including Karl Inderfurth and Michael Sheehan-all suggest this.
Islamabad's moves may have been determined less by a change of heart than
by a hard-nosed calculation to appear "reasonable" and overcome the Kargil
stigma.

New Delhi too probably reckoned that a "soft" and "reasonable" posture
would help Mr Vajpayee in his forthcoming Washington visit. Even if talks
with HM fail, it could claim it at least tried. If they succeed, that would
be a bonus. The government lacks a well-conceived J&K strategy. But it has
explored multi-pronged approaches, including talking to militant groups and
the Hurriyat, and making "informal" proposals to "external" interlocutors
and "internal" actors like the National Conference. Creditably, it has
stepped beyond its limited declared J&K agenda. Or else, a number of
Track-II manoeuvres wouldn't have been possible. As for the Hizb, its
ceasefire move too was probably impelled less by military pressure from the
security forces than the palpable popular exhaustion with violence in the
Valley, as well as some external goading. The Hurriyat, despite public
statements, was also not fiercely opposed to this, although it was piqued
at being bypassed.

These calculations may be cynical, some even Machiavellian, but they did
create a thaw which can benefit Kashmir's people through a loosening of the
11 year-long gridlock. One welcome result is the de-linking of the Kashmir
militancy from the ISI label, at least at the practical level. By treating
the Hizb as an indigenous group worthy of engagement, New Delhi has
acknowledged this de-linking and deconstructed the post-1989 official myth
aimed at reducing the entire Kashmir problem to an outgrowth or adjunct of
Pakistan's anti-India manoeuvres-a mere creation of Islamabad. Similarly,
for azaadi militants, talking to India is no longer out of bounds. This
should make it easier for New Delhi to deal with Kashmir without conflating
it with Indian nationhood, "honour" and pride in combating Pakistan's
"proxy war". Pakistani indeed deplorably supports the Kashmir militancy,
but that must be fought on another plane.

The beginning of talks between balaclava-ed guerrillas and Indian
officials, albeit aborted, has been no mean gain. To build upon it, New
Delhi must adopt a conciliatory stand and Islamabad must show maturity and
sincerity by welcoming a dialogue. It would be premature to demand
Pakistan's participation at this stage. The Vajpayee government, burdened
with its own communal ideology, is not yet ready for this. Mr Vajpayee
himself is bitter about the Kargil "betrayal", and often slips into the
viscerally communal anti-Pakistan stance typical of the BJP-RSS to which he
belongs. In an August 5 speech to mark the birth centenary of Mr Brajesh
Mishra's pro-RSS father D.P. Mishra, he approvingly quoted a passage saying
India has "inherent" problems with Pakistan because that state was founded
on "fear and suspicion" alone.

A change in such attitudes can only come about gradually. But the
government must continue with its multi-pronged approach. This will involve
some fancy footwork: talking "autonomy" with the National Conference within
the Constitution, and pursuing more open-ended strategies with the Hurriyat
and guerrillas. This may not be a bad thing so long as New Delhi holds a
sincere dialogue with all currents of Kashmiri opinion. What matters today
is less the product, and more the process, which is likely to be prolonged
and messy. Meanwhile, if there is to be further progress, a ceasefire must
be re-established.

However, New Delhi can build on all recent gains only if it accepts three
premises. First, the Kashmir problem is sui generis. Its roots lie in a
messy process of decolonisation and Partition. It has been enormously
complicated over 53 years, not least by New Delhi's repeated betrayal of
its own Constitutional and political promises. Pakistan has cynically
exploited the resultant popular alienation. New Delhi must in good faith
reverse the damage by debating the State Autonomy Commission's report and
consulting different currents in Jammu and Kashmir, including even Pannun
Kashmir. Second, it is morally and politically imperative for Indian
security forces to reduce their offensive operations and respect human
rights which they brazenly and routinely violate. Today, a quarter-million
troops confront less than five million civilians in Kashmir. This is the
main root-cause of popular alienation.

Finally, the entire strategy of doing devious deals based on
divide-and-rule and "buying peace" a la Nagaland now stands exhausted. The
government must stop toying with the RSS agenda of J&K's trifurcation. It
would be disastrous if it plays off its Kashmiri interlocutors against one
another, splits HM, or conducts a dialogue only to pretend to be
reasonable. Good faith has never been more important than today. New Delhi
can best demonstrate it by trying to re-establish a ceasefire. That will
need not just Herculean efforts, but real generosity and statesmanship.--en=
d--

______

#3.

The Hindustan Times
12 August 2000
Op-Ed.

LET THEM EAT CAKE

By Anil Agarwal

Is the problem of Kashmir merely one of guns and guards or also one of
hearts and minds? Unfortunately, neither the Central and State
Governments nor the Indian media have paid adequate attention to the
latter dimension.

Former Finance Minister C. Subramaniam has pointed to the growing
educated unemployment in the State which is feeding the militancy. Even
if training facilities and jobs can't be found in adequate numbers
inside the State, there is no reason, he argues, why efforts cannot be
made to provide them opportunities in other parts of the country.

Like many others, Subramaniam too advocates the promotion of a new
economy based on information technology. In addition, efforts to improve
the State's agriculture and horticulture can have a major impact on the
rural poor.

As we work in the field of environment, we would like to discuss
opportunities offered by natural resource enterprises. The poor of the
Kashmir Valley are already developing such opportunities. The
environment magazine, Down to Earth, recently published a fascinating
report on how the Kashmir Valley's poor, affected by the decline of the
tourist industry because of militancy, are today using the Dal Lake for
their survival.

The Kashmir Valley has extremely limited land and, therefore, to eke out
a survival, the tourism-affected are cultivating the waters of the Dal
Lake, in what is nothing short of technological brilliance. Of course,
environmentalists don't like it and nor do political leaders, including
Farooq Abdullah, influenced by unthinking environmental hype. Indeed,
the cultivation is not good for the lake.

But nobody has a serious answer to resolve the contradictory social,
economic and ecological considerations.

It is in this context that the recent debate on the shahtoosh gets our
gall. And Abdullah's cave-in to conservationists to ban the shahtoosh
shawl is indeed appalling because it shows not just ecological
mindlessness but also political mindlessness. A deadly cocktail indeed
for the poor Kashmiris.

Not surprisingly, shahtoosh traders - and now State Industries and
Commerce Minister Mustafa Kamaal - have protested against the
Government's position. According to newspaper reports, a shahtoosh shawl
is highly prized in the West and fetches as much as $ 3,000-$ 15,000.
The total foreign exchange earned is said to be around Rs 200 crore a
year.

In India, it commands prices ranging from Rs 30,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Some
50,000 families face the prospects of starvation because of the ban.
Given these figures, the Jammu and Kashmir Government should do
everything to promote and protect its shahtoosh Enterprise.

Environmental arguments that the population of the chiru (Tibetan
antelope) has dropped from one million about 50 years ago to about
65,000 now and that about 20,000 are killed every year for the shahtoosh
trade, are only relevant to the extent that the wild population should
now be protected. It does not automatically mean that the shahtoosh
trade should be banned.

Given that shahtoosh making requires only the fibre of the chiru goat,
there is no reason even to kill the animal. Maybe it is being killed
today because the goat is first collected in the wild. Why can't the
vast Changthang pasture, where the goat is found, not be used to farm
these goats in such numbers that these highly coveted shawls actually
become a mass commodity instead of just remaining as elite possession -
a trade that employs not just 50,000 families but 500,000 and earns Rs
2,000 crore instead of Rs 200 crore?

If Indian conservationists were not so anti-poor and
enterprise-illiterate, they would have tried to learn a lesson or two
from the French and Swiss Alps, both of which were in a highly degraded
state at the start of the 20th century because of overgrazing and
mismanagement.

Today, on the other hand, these alpine pastures have returned to their
full glory - not because of bans on cattle but because of a rip-roaring,
cooperative dairy industry that commands the attention of the whole
world.

Dairy farmers organised themselves to use the pastures in an
ecologically-sound manner, cooperatives have been formed to ensure that
even the poorest farmer gets a good economic return, and local products
have been protected so that nobody can sell French and Swiss brands of
cheese or chocolate anywhere in the world. This approach has also paid
rich tourism dividends.

The resulting rich patchwork tapestry of forests and pastures in the
upper alpine region looks so beautiful today that it is considered a
valuable ecological possession by the French and the Swiss -and, of
course, somewhere where all our hip-swinging Bollywood stars love to
prance around, wasting Indian foreign exchange.

Forestry is one another area where clearly a huge amount of employment
and wealth can be created. Like good environmentalists, Kashmiris use a
lot of wood to make their houses. In addition, firewood is the primary
fuel used for cooking and heating even in towns. Srinagar alone consumes
some 50,000 tonnes of firewood every year. Therefore, there is a big
domestic demand for wood apart from one outside the State.

On the other hand, of the 2.04 million hectares of forests that were
recorded by remote sensing satellites in 1993-95, about 46 per cent was
degraded open forest and another 15 per cent was highly degraded forest
scrub lands. Clearly, a community forest management programme of the
kind in operation in Nepal is needed to regenerate these forests.

A Nepalese style programme is required because the Government gives all
the timber resources generated to the villagers. The niggardly Indian
Government, however, gives only 25 per cent under its Joint Forest
Management programme - except, of course, in the Naxalite-dominated
tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh where foresters dare not take anything
from tribals.

The environmentalism of the Indian Government is extremely double-faced.
When it comes to banning diesel cars which will affect powerful
industrialists, our politicians and bureaucrats shiver with fear; but
banning shahtoosh and leaving the poor to die is no problem.

______

#4.

GUJARAT'S TRIBAL BELT AWAITS ANOTHER COMMUNAL CARNAGE:
APPEAL FOR ACTION

After the Gujarat Bandh enforced by the VHP and Sangh Parivar to condemn
the killings of Amarnath pilgrims in Kashmir, many parts of Gujarat
witnessed communal violence and gruesome attack on minorities during the
past week. There were several violent attacks against minorities in Surat,
as well as the tribal areas of Sabarkantha like Khedbrahma, Lambadiya,
Modasa etc. Burning of minority places of worship, looting of their shops
and establishments have been routine news. While the tension still
continues in some of these parts of the tribal belt, the Sangh Parivar's
most violent outfit Bajrang Dal is out to escalate communal violence in
Meghraj (a small taluka town of Sabarkantha).

Bajrang Dal has announced a Hindutva convention on Monday (Aug. 14, 3 p.m.
afternoon) in Meghraj at Pahadiya Hanuman temple. According to a newsreport
published in the Ahmedabad based daily "Gujarat Today" (Aug. 10), Bajrang
Dal plans to mobilise over thirty thousand (30,000) tribals and it's
supporters from Gujarat for this convention. At the local level there is
reasonable fear that this convention will whip communal tension and boost
attack on minorities in Meghraj.

Muslim shopkeepers and traders, an economically well-off strata in this
tribal town, have already started moving out all valuables, assets,
commodities etc. from their shops and establishments to supposedly "safer
places". The existing class contradictions between Muslim merchants and
tribals are likely to be sucessfully converted into communal hatred against
the community by the Sangh Parivar, eyeing upon the forthcoming municipal
and panchayat (local self government) elections in the state.

We are sure that the Government and the police will be mute spectators to
this event of mobilising tribals to launch a bloody progrom against the
minorities, as is borne out from past experiences in the Dangs, Ahmedabad
and elsewhere.

Hoping that sufficient international public pressure on the Indian and
Gujarat government might yield some positive results, we appeal to all
progressive secular and democratic forces to condemn this Hindutva
convention and pressurise the government to take preventive action or ban
the convention (of Monday) and save the tribal Meghraj town from burning in
communal flames.

Please address your protests immediately to:

Mr.K.R. Narayanan
The President of India
Rashtrapati Bhavan
New Delhi 110004
Fax: 91-011-3017290
Fax: +91 (011) 3014570, +91 (011) 3017290

Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee
Prime Minister of India
7, Safdarjung Road,
New Delhi 110001.
Fax: +91 (11) 301 6857 / 301 9545
email form at: http://pmindia.nic.in/writetous.htm

Mr. L.K.Advani
Home Minister of India
Ministry of Home Affairs,Govt of India
Gruh Mantralaya,
New Delhi 110001
Fax: 91-011-3015729; 91-11-3782367
Tel: 91-11-3782397, 3782640
Email: mhaweb@m...

Mr. Keshubhai Patel,
Chief Minister, Gujarat
Email: mail@g...
email form at: http://www.cm.gujaratindia.com/cmform.html
Tel: (Off) +91 (02712) 32611 TO 32619
Fax: +91 (02712) 22101
Tel: ( Res.) +91 (02712) 32601 TO 32606
Fax: +91 (02712) 22020

NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Sardar Patel Bhavan, Sansad Marg,
New Delhi-110001.
Tel: 91-11-311560; 3348478
Fax: 91-11-3340016
Email: nhrc@r...

In Solidarity,
Wilfred
SAMVAD, Ahmedabad
______

#5.

[Thanks to Shekhar Krishnan for forwarding this]

>From Ranjit Hoskote <ranjithoskote@h...>:

Dear Friends --

DR ARVIND RAJAGOPAL will speak on `QUESTIONS OF SECULARISM IN THE
CONTEXT OF MASS MEDIA' on Monday, 14 August 2000, at 6 p.m., at the
ULT Library, Theosophy Hall (Third Floor), 40, New Marine Lines,
Churchgate, Bombay 400 020. The venue is right across from the USIS.

The event takes place under the aegis of the PEN All-India Centre and
New Quest.

DR ARVIND RAJAGOPAL graduated from Madras University and from the
School of Sociology at the University of California at Berkeley.
Since 1998, he has been an Associate Professor at New York
University, in the Department of Culture and Communications. In 1992,
he co-authored Mapping Hegemony: CBS Coverage of the United
Mineworkers' Strike 1977-78. His latest work, Politics After
Television: Hindu Nationalism and the Reshaping of the Indian Public,
is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. The book examines the
impact of the screening of the Ramayan serial on Doordarshan in thee
late 1980s on Indian society, and the interface between three
seemingly disparate elements: economic liberalisation, the rise of
Hindu fundamentalism, and the role of the mass media.

Hindutva at Play, An Interview with Arvind Rajagopal, in Frontline,
5-18 August 2000: http://www.the-hindu.com/fline/fl1716/17160760.htm

_______

#6.

THE WORLD SINDHI INSTITUTE

ANTI-KALABAGH DAM PROTEST RALLY IN WASHINGTON, DC
'A BLACK DAY FOR OPPRESSED NATIONS IN PAKISTAN'

The oppressed people of Sindh, Balochistan, and Pakthoonkwa are determined
to defeat the Kalabagh Dam Project, an ecological and social disaster
designed by the dictatorial military regime of Pakistan. All social,
political, environmental, and human rights activists sympathetic to the
cause are urged to attend the rally to reject the systematic
=ECdesertification=EE of Indus River basin, object to the damming of Indus
River, the bloodline of Sindhi (Indus) civilization, and to show
solidarity with the people of Sindh, Balochistan and Pakhtoonkwa.

WHEN: MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2000

AT: 12:00 - 3:00 PM

WHERE: PAKISTAN EMBASSY
2315 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008

METRO: DUPONT CIRCLE

Some Facts About Kalabagh Dam

The Dam Violates The Water Distribution Accord Between Sindh And Punjab
Provinces

The Dam Will Displace The Populations Of Sindh, Balochistan And Nwfp, And
Will Impose A Severe Threat To Their Viable Existence

The Dam Will Render Fertile Lands Of Sindh Arid

The Dam Will Cause Extinction Of The Endangered Population Of "The Blind
Indus Dolphin (Bulahan)" And "Sindhi Shad (Palo)"

The Dam Will Annihilate The Indus Based Mangrove Forest And Its Inhabitant=
s

For Further Facts On Kalabagh Dam Project Visit
Http://Www.Saveindus.Org

Water For Life, Not For Death!
Say No To Kalabagh Dam!

The World Sindhi Institute, 605 G Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024
202.484.0134
Email: wsihq@w...

___________________________________
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