[sacw] SACW Dispatch #2 | 31 July 00

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch #2
31 July 2000
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

#1. Pakistan: The golden fifties
#2. Pakistan: Report on National People's Assembly (NPA) 1-3 July, Islamaba=
d
#3. An Opinion from Bangladesh: Bal Thackarey Episode & Its Ramifications
#4. India: Preserving the Idea of India from the project for creation of a
Hindu Rashtra

_____________________

#1.

DAWN Magazine; 30 July, 2000

THE GOLDEN FIFTIES

By Nazar Hayat

CROSSING into the fifties,is the story of my generation which grew up with
Pakistan. We have gone through all its moods and upheavals. Our rights and
wrongs, beliefs and value systems have kept changing as we matured through
our different phases.

My earliest images are of the frightening times around the partition when
my father, a government official, was posted at Kasur, a border town. As a
toddler, I saw and can now vividly recollect the sight of a few dead bodies
wrapped in coffins lying below a railway bridge. In those days, people
talked about the bloodshed between the Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. Those
gory bodies were of some Sikhs.

But then, as I joined school, there was no more talk of the Hindus and
Sikhs. People only occasionally lamented and blamed the British for leaving
behind the unresolved issue of Kashmir. Our parents often reminisced
nostalgically about the friends who had parted for India.

Everyone spoke of the jovial times with the Sikhs. The oldies in the
villages even praised the British for their fairness and justice. We read
Indian magazines and enjoyed Indian films. There was also a distinct
residual British culture in us. Ladies wore coats in winters with brooches.
Breakfast meant porridge and half-boiled eggs. Nihari or payas were still
not in fashion.

Every film had a club scene with dancer, a drunkard at the bar and a
musician who expansively lifted up his clarinet. The Punjabi parents wanted
their children to speak in Urdu if not English. Even our home had an
English pram.

It was a clean secular culture with no ideological conflicts. Religion
signified spirituality and not ritualism. The mosque and the maulvi
commanded deep reverence. Zakat required no affidavits and filing of
returns. It was inconceivable that a person claiming to be a religious
scholar would carry weapons or someone could be murdered in a mosque. An
honest man was respected, graft was considered a sin and earning a good
name in the society meant a great deal.

Our parents quoted Saadi and Hafiz. My school taught me Arabic, Persian
and English from Class 1. While the government schools were not as good,
the private institutions provided a high quality education. Teachers were
respected. The curriculum was of an international standard. The history
books had yet not been altered nor had the Maths, Urdu, English and Social
Studies books been Islamized.

The fact that Quaid-i-Azam wore stylish clothes, consumed alcohol or
enjoyed Western food was a non-issue. Patriotism was not limited to wearing
shalwar-kameez or displaying religiosity. Our villages lived in peace and
harmony. And successfully ran an effective punchayat system.

In the agriculture sector, there was prosperity with bumper crops and a
general sense of contentment prevailed. Fast-paced urban life did not exert
a strong-enough pull for migration towards the big cities.

The cities were clean and the civic services worked. In Lahore, I
remember, water tankers regularly sprinkling water on the sides of the
roads in the afternoons to settle the dust. Big cities provided good
entertainment which included latest films in clean cinemas where families
congregated for matinee shows on holidays.

City night-life offered night clubs with dance and music programmes.
Hotels had well-stocked bars and the clubs ran tombolas and social
evenings. World-famous bands and troupes visited Pakistan. No one bothered
how the others' lived as long as it did not infringe upon the rights of
society.

Four-star comfort and Chinese food had arrived. Meanwhile, we had invented
our very own dish - Balti Ghost of Landi Kotal. Cantonments were well
outside the cities. Military was paid well and it lived within its own
self-contained islands enjoying an elevated status and a respect from the
community. As a profession, it provided prestige, honour and glamour. In
short, there was a feel-good situation all around. Those were the golden
fifties.

The turning point is Ayub Khan's takeover and the first jolt in a normal
flow of events. Most of us, unaware of its long-term implications, welcome
it. The first blow and beginning of our downward slide comes with the 1965
war. Urdu media whips up a war frenzy and a blind animosity towards India.
We all go whole hog for the war. The war brings no results but a huge
reservoir of patriotism gets frittered away on an ill-planned and an
uncalled for war. Growth of economy is halted.

After the 71 elections, the military, in its naivete, does not transfer
power to the majority leader, Sheikh Mujib. Bhutto's socialism follows and
systematically destroys all our industrial and educational apparatus. Zia's
Islamization compounds our problems by introducing intolerance in society.
Then Benazir and Nawaz Sharif, like two little devils, fool around for some
time with no clear vision. The sad saga continues. But that is another
story....

=A9 The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2000

______

#2.

News on Sunday | News International (Pakistan)
30 July 2000
Political Economy

RULE OF THE DOWNTRODDEN?
TIME FOR THE DISPOSSESSED TO TAKE POSSESSION OF THEIR LIVES AND THEIR LAND

Will the traditional elite of Pakistan be ready to transfer powers to the
marginalised groups, who are still politically not so assertive? Empowering
people is not plain sailing, as whenever someone attempted to do so, he had
to face serious difficulties from the vested interest groups=8A. Political
Economy presents a report on the groundbreaking National People's Assembly
(NPA) session held in Islamabad on July 1-3, 2000

by Azhar Lashary

Exclusion of people, especially the marginalised groups-the poor, women and
minorities-from the process of making decisions, even those which affect
their lives directly, dates back to the British Raj. This disempowerment of
people translated into a multi-faceted crisis in the country-widening the
gap between economic haves and have-nots, fuelling religious intolerance,
increasing gender insensitivity, environmental degradation and, above all,
militarisation of both state and society.

In December 1998, some public-interest organisations (PIOs)-Advocacy and
Development Network, the Democratic Commission for Human Development,
Justice and Peace Commission, Pakistan NGO Forum, South Asian
Partnership-Pakistan (SAP-Pak) and Sungi Development Foundation-deliberated
over the grave socio-political scenario and conceptualised the process of
people's assemblies to come out of these crises.

The people's assembly process is aimed at facilitating creative engagements
between the dispossessed and the elite. This process also intended to
provide opportunities to people via public debate and collective analyses
so that an informed public opinion could be created. The process initiated
in 1999 got momentum when the present government showed its interest in the
devolution of power. The National Committee for People's Assemblies (NCPA),
responsible for organising people's assemblies, met in January 2000 and
decided to select an annual theme around which public discourse and the
mobilisation process of the assemblies should focus.

The theme selected for the year 2000 was devolution of power and
democratic decentralisation of decision-making. During March-June 2000, a
series of 42 assemblies were held in all four provinces and Azad Jammu and
Kashmir (AJK). To synthesise the debate held in these local assemblies and
articulate the public recommendations for policy options on effective
devolution of power, the NCPA held a three-day National People's Assembly
on devolution of power on July 1-3, 2000, at the National Library of
Pakistan, Islamabad.

Inaugurated by Federal Minister for Local Bodies and Rural Development Omar
Asghar Khan, the assembly was attended by almost 700 delegates, including
village people, social workers, development practitioners, trade unionists,
labour, professionals (doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc), political workers
media persons, government officials and students from all four provinces
and AJK. Divided into six sessions, the three-day assembly was so designed
that on each day a spokesperson of the government presented the
government's plan and its intentions regarding devolution of power. Omar
Asghar Khan took the podium on the first day and he was followed by
National Reconstruction Bureau's consultant Dr Zulfiqar Gillani on the
second day. Both Omar Asghar and NRB Chairperson Lt-Gen (retd) Syed Tanveer
Hussain Naqvi rounded off their remarks on the third day.

Presenting the civil society's point of view on the government's plan of
devolution of power, I A Rahman (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan), Dr
Shahrukh Rafi Khan (Sustainable Development Policy Institute), Karamat Ali
(Pakistan Institute of Labour, Education and Research), Dr Farzana Bari
(Women Study Center, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad), Afrasiab Khattak
(HRCP) and Mushtaq Gadi (Sungi Development Foundation) shed light on the
different aspects of the plan. In general, the government's plan was
welcomed but the appreciation it got from the civil society's
representative on women's representation in local bodies was remarkable.

Dr Farzana said the plan was a welcome sign as women in most parts of the
world get only 10 to 15 per cent representation in legislative bodies. Only
Scandinavian women enjoy a fairer representation. However, Dr Farzana made
a strong pitch for introduction of a move to reserve half of all seats for
women in district assemblies-just as it is in union councils.

She also appealed for mandatory participation of all political parties in
the provincial and federal parliament elections under a formula that would
give women at least 33 per cent tickets. Devolution of power means
transferring power from the elite to the disempowered sections of the
society. Will the traditional elite of Pakistan be ready to transfer powers
to the marginalised groups, who are still politically not so assertive?
Empowering people is not plain sailing, as whenever someone attempted to do
so, he had to face serious difficulties from the vested interest groups,
according to Omar Asghar Khan.

To cope with these difficulties, he said the PIOs ought to cooperate with
the government so that a collective methodology could be devised. "Without
eliminating feudalism, we cannot see people using their rights and sending
their representatives to the assemblies," said Karamat Ali. He said the
government should announce land reforms before holding local bodies' polls.
Dr Shahrukh also stressed the need to ensure land reforms in the country.
To make the plan successful, Mushtaq Gadi said the PIOs would have to
develop wider and forge effective coalitions and networks.

The government's claim to bring minorities into mainstream politics is a
good step but it looks hollow, especially in a country where the minorities
have a long history of persecution at the hands of both state and society.
In this connection, Karamat demanded the exclusion of theocracy introduced
in the constitution by the late military ruler Ziaul Haq. He mentioned
Zia's constitutional changes, which made the minorities third-grade
citizens. There was a dire need to revive the Constitution of 1973 in its
pure form, he said. The process of devolution of power is a political
process, as claimed by Dr Zulfiqar Gillani, but throughout this process,
there is propaganda against both politics and the politician. There was a
clamour at the NPA sessions for halting the propaganda campaign against
politicians and restoring the basic rights of the people.

I A Rahman said one of the important functions of the local bodies is to
play the role of an institution of political education for the local
people. "Since the government intends to hold local bodies polls on a
non-party basis, how can local bodies play their key role? asks Rahman. He
called for an end to the "defamation of the political process because of
individuals". Political institutions could not develop, let alone function,
without political process, he added. Afrasiab Khattak said the post-1985
republic was a creation of the Ziaul Haq era and could not be quoted to
discredit politicians. He said the country may have had bad democracy but
the system itself could not be faulted for that. He appealed for making the
devolution of power a part of the democratic process otherwise it would
become a farce.

Participants of the assembly, especially those from smaller provinces,
voiced concern about the potential threat posed to provincial autonomy by
devolution of power. Karamat Ali said Pakistan was a federation but the
provinces were not granted autonomy even after the one-unit system was
scrapped in 1970. This resulted in the emergence of nationalist leadership
and made provincial autonomy a contentious issue. On behalf of the
government, Omar Asghar, a federal minister, assured participants that the
government did not have any intention of undermining provincial autonomy
through devolution of power at the local level. Lt-Gen. (retd) Tanveer
Hussain Naqvi said the government was in favour of provincial autonomy, but
warned that it would oppose any plan for greater sovereignty. The
government's plan to devolve power is good but its successful
implementation is viewed with skepticism especially when the enforcers of
the plan themselves admit, "So far, the government has finalised no
modalities of polls."

Before laying the foundation of any premises, I A Rahman observed, one
should be clear of its structure. The NRB should have a clear idea of
people's problems and their priorities so that the most important problem
should be addressed first. He is of the opinion that if people's problems
and priorities are given no consideration while making the plan of
devolution of power, it will be a simple case of putting the cart before
the horse. Despite the serious nature of the topics discussed at the
assembly, the participants did not lose interest and kept taking part in
the proceedings either through questioning or making suggestions throughout
the assembly.

Organisers deserve credit for making the NPA meetings interactive and
arranging regular question-answer sessions and even group works. The
proceedings of the first day were followed by an interactive theatre on
local bodies contest by women. At the end of the second day, the
participants of NPA staged a peaceful demonstration at the Constitution
Avenue near the Foreign Office. Hundreds of participants belonging to
different areas of all four provinces and AJK arrived in buses from the
National Library. They were carrying banners with slogans in favour of
human rights, condemning fanaticism and urging the government to take bold
steps against obscurantist elements. They stood at the western lane of the
avenue for half an hour and then dispersed peacefully. Traditionally,
citizens have had little opportunity for collective analysis and public
debate that enables formulation of informed public opinion.

According to Mushtaq Gadi, the people's assembly process is highly flexible
in its structure and has stimulated people's discourse and mobilisation on
issues of common concern. How far it remains successful in performing this
basic role, is highly dependent upon the PIOs' sincerity and their capacity
to evolve an alternative model of development, mobilise people to change
policies, make advocacy popular and develop wider and effective coalitions
and networks, both at grassroots and policymaking levels.

The writer is programme coordinator (communications) at Sungi Development
Foundation, Head Office 1748/C Civil Lines, Abbottabad

______

#3.

The Daily Star
Volume 3 Number 328 | Sun. July 30, 2000
Editorial Page

THACKAREY EPISODE AND ITS RAMIFICATIONS

By Zaglul A.Chowdhury.

Extremism in any country should not be encouraged because religion is a
personal affair in a secular society. There may be an impact of the
majority religious group but the minorities must not feel insecure.

THE Shiv Sena and its supremo Bal Thakarey are no strangers in Indian
politics. Although confined mainly in the western Maharastra state and in
some other pockets in India, the Shiv Sena as a political party evokes both
admiration and fear among people. The reason is simple. Its jingoistic
policy of Hindu nationalism is admired by the hardliners, while the
minorities and other sections of Hindus abhor this extremism. But for Bal
Thakarey and his die-hard followers, over-zealousness is the main feature,
which has kept them in the news for years. They make news mainly because of
their extraordinary lust to discover something on religious or parochial
line. And then, they immediately get involve in controversy.

It was during the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharastra not too long ago
that thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims were detected in Mumbai. The
authorities attempted to round up many so-called Bangladeshis and push them
back into Bangladesh. But it could not be implemented because of lack of
enthusiasm regarding this drive from the government in New Delhi. There
were also protests from West Bengal government, which questioned the
authenticity of these people as "foreigners".

When the Pakistani cricket team visited India more than a year ago after a
fairly long gap, Indians were eagerly looking forward to the tour, leaving
aside the rivalry between these two cricket-crazy nations. But it was the
Shiv Sena that had threatened to disrupt the entire itinerary. The reason
that was cited for its opposition to the tour was Pakistan's involvement in
Kashmir.

Indo-Pak dispute over Kashmir dates back to 1948 and its not a new aspect
in bilateral ties of India and Pakistan. But Bal Thakarey wanted to spoil
the visit of the Pakistan team on this pretext. The BJP, though an ally of
the Shiv Sena, did not fall in line and its government in India led by Atal
Bihari Vajpayee did not bow down and boldly faced the problem. The Sena
activists damaged the pitch in the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in New Delhi but
this had only hardened the attitude of the government which did not want to
mix sports with politics and ensured that the tour went off peacefully.
Thakarey had to eat his own words. Thakarey's men were disappointed but the
designs of the handful were routed by the spirit of the overwhelming
majority of the Indians who are not keen to rely on the communal tensions
of the subcontinent on different issues and in most occasions come down
heavily on the religious fundamentalists which is the case in other South
Asian countries.

The Shiv Sena was subject of debate in the context of communal riots in
Maharastra seven years ago -- particularly in Mumbai -- where more than
2,000 people, mostly the minorities, were killed in the aftermath of the
demolition of the of 16th century mosque in Ayodhya. Another few lakhs
Muslims had to leave the city because of fear unleashed by Hindu zealots.

Bal Thakarey was briefly arrested the other day for inciting riots in
Mumbai through inflammatory writings in the party mouthpiece Samna. The
present government in Maharastra is the alliance of the Congress of Sonia
Gandhi and Nationalist Congress led by Shaward Pawar. Both are secular
parties. The government decided to take on Bal Thakarey and arrested him
amidst simmering tensions and fears of mayhem in the state whose government
brought in extra security from outside to contain threats of the Sena who
said Mumbai would be in flames if their leader was taken to custody. The
central government of Vajpayee was obviously in a difficult situation. It
apparently was not happy over the actions being taken against the leader of
its ally, but at the same time, was careful that it did not intervene the
decision of the state government.

The metropolitan court released Thakarey immediately as the judge found the
charges "time-barred" and closed the case. It appeared a victory for the
Sena people who distributed sweets in Mumbai, but the state government said
it was moving to higher courts since the issue was serious and the accused
cannot go scot-free. Whatever be the future developments, the matter has
raised several questions. Indian government, despite being an ally of the
Shiv Sena, did not want to interfere in the process of law in Maharastra.

Ram Jethmalani, the law minister, made certain observations taking a
pro-Thakarey stance which the prime minister did not relish and the
minister was asked to resign and Jethmalani complied. Here government of
Vajpayee appeared matured in dealing with the issue although new law
minister Arun Jaitley said central government hopes that things are not
politically motivated against the Sena leader. This has earned good image
for the government while the determination of the state government to
proceed with actions against those whom it considered as responsible for
provoking trouble during the communal riots in 1993 deserves commendation
because this will discourage the communal forces.

However, there is an impression that the state deputy chief minister and
home minister Chaggan Bhujbal is seeking to take on the Sena leader to
retaliate an old relationship. Bhujbal was once a follower of Thakarey but
he quit the party calling it communal. Whatever the case, communal forces
will be discouraged by the state government even though the release of
Thakarey is seen as a first round victory for him. I have had the occasion
to watch the film Bombay made in the backdrop of communal carnage in the
city soon after its release in New Delhi. The film is largely neutral on
the Hindu and Muslim involvement in the riots and I could feel, while
watching the film, that it was sympathetic towards minorities. It portrayed
that minorities are vulnerable and it is the task of the majority to
protect them. The message is universal. In this respect, I remember a sweet
shop near the Purana Paltan area in Dhaka belonging to a minority member
was attacked in the aftermath of the Babri Mosque demolition and many of us
rushed to protect the shop. Some over-enthusiastic persons engineered the
trouble.

The city of Mumbai is known as a bastion of the Shiv Sena. But many there
are non-communal. A few years ago, I accompanied a group of senior
journalists on a visit to Mumbai. A small but otherwise meaningful matter
drew our attention in the hotel we were staying. In the evening we were at
a marriage ceremony of a Muslim girl and a Hindu boy in the Taj. We were
little curious as inter-religion marriage was something unusual in a city
like Mumbai. But a staff of the hotel told us that most people are not much
bothered about personal matters in context of religions although certain
quarters try spoil the peaceful co-existence. But Mumbai must have felt the
undercurrent of communal ascendancy when the Shiv Sena was in power and
Thakarey was in charge of the government though he held no official
position. The result was it lost power in last year's elections.

Extremism in any country cannot be encouraged because religion is a
personal affair in a secular society. There may be an impact of the
majority religious group in a country but the minorities must not feel
insecure. The fulmination of Shiv Sena or such groups in India should not
be allowed to go too far and their wings need to be clipped as much as it
is required in other countries.
______

#4.

The Hindu
31 July 2000
Op-Ed.

Preserving the sense of nationhood

By Malini Parthasarathy

THE ATTITUDE of the BJP-led NDA administration to the disturbing trend
of attacks on the Christian minority and its palpable lack of a sense of
outrage over the Shiv Sena chief, Mr. Bal Thackeray's brazen and
incendiary defiance of the rule of law suggests that the project of
converting this polity into a Hindu Rashtra has not quite been
abandoned. There is now ample evidence that the majoritarian Hindutva
campaign has made distinct headway in its effort to gain control of
India's multicultural civil society by aggressively sweeping away the
minorities to the margins. But what is also disquieting is that there
has been very little resistance to this process from those who claim to
be custodians of this country's traditions of pluralist and secular
governance - particularly the former party of government, the
Congress(I).

The Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, and the Union Home Minister, Mr.
L. K. Advani, might continue to ritually and dutifully intone their
adherence and commitment to this country's traditions of secular
governance. But there is a visible lack of indignation on their part and
little evidence of real concern over the implications of the recent
trend of attacks on the Christian community and Mr. Bal Thackeray's
provocative anti- social behaviour. First, the Government has not yet
faced up to the reality that the entire spate of attacks on the
Christian community, its clergy and its churches began only after the
Vajpayee administration came into power. When the attacks on the
Christian minority in Dangs district in Gujarat first hit national
headlines, the response of the BJP leadership including the Prime
Minister was to imply that the violence against that hapless community
was only retaliation for the alleged proselytising activities of the
Christian clergy, as if that offered moral justification for such horre
ndous behaviour.

In an indication of its utter disregard of its obligation as a ruling
party to provide assurances of its capacity for impartial governance,
the BJP continues to dwell on this provocative thesis despite its
alienating potential. It reveals an appalling insensitivity towards the
predicament of the Christian minority, a community with an exemplary
record of sacrifice and commitment to Indian civil society and which
until now has had no hesitation in identifying itself as belonging to
the Indian nation-state. Instead of rushing to this community's defence,
spokesmen of the ruling party have been relentlessly battering its sense
of belonging.

After the recent bomb blasts in churches in Southern India, the BJP
general secretary, Mr. K. N. Govindacharya, launched a blistering attack
on the Christian church for its ``proselytising activities'' which he
said ``pollute the motivation of service''. He went on to allege that
``the fabric of social unity in India had been damaged by overzealous
activists of the Church''. Earlier in June, another spokesman, Mr.
Venkaiah Naidu, dismissed criticism of the VHP and the Bajrang Dal for
their hate campaign against the Christian community and charged that it
was the Christian organisations instead which were ``conducting a hate
campaign against Hindu gods''. Blatantly partisan and distorted
representations of the facts such as these have served to erode the
faith of the minorities in the capacity of the Government to be an
impartial interlocutor. It must be recognised that such an erosion of
faith in the political system on the part of the minorities could only
lead to their alienation from the idea of subscribing to a common Indian
nationhood. This, more than anything else, can cause the dreams of a
resplendent and resurgent India, so assiduously being marketed by the
BJP's dream merchants, to turn sour.

Setting, as it were, the cat among the pigeons, is the latest theory
being peddled by the BJP State units in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka,
echoed by the Union Home Minister, Mr. Advani, that an ISI conspiracy,
executed by local Islamic groups, designed to destabilise the Vajpayee
administration, was behind the recent bomb blasts in the churches in
these States. To be sure, police investigations in these States, ruled
by non-BJP administrations, have pointed the finger at the Deendar
Anjuman, a shadowy Islamic sect, thus confirming the Home Minister's
prior hunch(?). Ironically, this verdict made it possible for the highly
provocative role of the Hindutva fundamentalists in creating this
inflamed atmosphere to escape critical scrutiny.

Given that Mr. Advani had already preemptively articulated his suspicion
that ``anti-India elements'' were behind the blasts even before the
police investigations had arrived at the same conclusion, the onus was
most certainly on the Government to establish the veracity of these
assertions and demonstrate that the police findings had independent
validity. By suggesting that the Christian community was ``asking for
trouble'' because of its proselytising activities and that the Muslim
community was up to its usual conspiratorial activities, its nationalist
credentials under attack for the umpteenth time, was not the BJP-led
administration revealing its deep majoritarian bias and worse still,
lending respectability to the dangerous hate campaign spearheaded by the
Hindutva fanatics?

The abrasive and searing hate campaign consisting of slander and
stereotype directed at minority citizens which is being taken all over
the country by the Bajrang Dal, the RSS and the VHP provides a handy
umbrella for criminal and anti-social elements such as Dara Singh to
strike with impunity and terrorise civil society, as would not have been
possible before. In such a painfully polarised political context, the
Government would necessarily have to anticipate that its version of
events that have traumatised the collective psyche of the minority
communities would not be accepted as credible or authoritative. If the
``conspiracy'' conclusion is to have unassailable validity, it would
require scrutiny and verification by agencies such as the National Human
Rights Commission or even by other independent human rights groups that
are seen as trustworthy intermediaries by the minority communities.

It must also be recognised that the bruising sweep of the ``ISI
conspiracy'' thesis would not be limited to the Christian community but
would again be seen as aimed at the Muslim community. By implication,
the thesis questions the loyalty of the Muslim minority to the Indian
state. The Christian community today is stung by the visible reluctance
of the Government to acknowledge that it is the Sangh Parivar's hate
campaign which has provided the context within which the members of the
community are being singled out for attack by anti-social and criminal
elements. Yet, members of the Muslim minority feel equally impugned,
with the insidious old doubts about their unflinching loyalty to the
Indian state surfacing again, questions that had haunted and traumatised
them during the harrowing ordeal of Partition and have since been flung
at them time and again. This latest case of the church blasts, in which
the police have decided that members of an Islamic sect executed the
strategic design of Pakistan's ISI to destabilise Indian civil society,
is only one example of what is now a distinct trend of linking all the
recent criminal acts of sabotage to the ISI, working through local
Muslim collaborators. This is a grave charge for a community which
prides itself on being a historic part of the Indian social mosaic to
digest and must be substantiated rigorously before it is made public.
Yet the Government has not hesitated to tread heavily on this sensitive
ground. Even if it is the case that local Muslim zealots are working in
concert with Pakistan, it would only point to the fact of the deepening
alienation of the young people in the minority communities.

There is now overwhelming evidence that the corrosive tenor and
substance of the hate campaign organised by the Bajrang Dal, the VHP and
the RSS is primarily responsible for the terror and alienation that the
minorities are experiencing in this country today. An unwillingness on
the part of the NDA Government to acknowledge the incendiary potential
of the Sangh Parivar's hate campaign, which relentlessly pours venom and
ire on the hapless minority communities, will be seen by these minority
citizens as further evidence that the Government is working towards the
creation of a Hindu Rashtra.

At this painful moment in India's history when the positive experience
of the decades of pluralist co-existence is sought to be overturned, it
is for the opposition parties such as the Congress(I) to grasp the
nettle and lead an effort to preserve the sense of nationhood shared by
millions, belonging to different faiths and with diverse social
identities. Not to recognise the imperative of protecting the stakes of
these different communities in the idea of the Indian nation would be to
place this country's future as a cohesive and integrated society in
grave jeopardy.

______________________________________________
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