[sacw] sacw dispatch #1 (10 May 00)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web - Dispatch #1
10 May 2000
_____________________
#1. Vilification campaign against Dr. Nayyar in Islamabad
#2. Pakistan: In Search of Identity
#3. Pakistan: Call To Cancel Oil & Gas Concession In Pakistan's Kirthar
National Park
#4. Mumbai's well known secularist writes against anti Christian violence
#5. All India Democratic Women's Association call's for action against ITBP
#6. Communalism Combat May issue online
_____________________

#1.
[Posted below is a letter from Dr. Nayyar, one of Pakistan's leading
intellectuals who has consistently argued for peace with India]

=46rom: A. H. Nayyar

Date: Monday, May 08, 2000 1:42 AM
Subject: Us and them!

I am at the receiving end of a vilification campaign from some right wing
Urdu dailies. First, the newspaper Ausaf in a news item attributed some
statements to me that I had not made. Then on the basis of these, wrote an
editorial column against me, followed by another false story, this time
leveling the charge of indulging in anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam
activities. Nawa-e-Waqt has also written an editorial against me, asking
for my sacking from the university. I am writing this to tell my version of
the story.

This relates to an event that happened on Tuesday May 2, 2000. I was
invited to the National Institute of Psychology at Quaid-i-Azam University
to give a talk to the students and faculty on the sense of insecurity and
the weapons of mass destruction. The center-point of my discussion was that
the sense of insecurity that has been with us as a nation for a long time
has now turned into a state of acute paranoia, and I invited the students
of psychology to see if the symptoms do point to the ailment. I pointed out
that as an answer to our perceived insecurity we have constructed our own
realities which quite often are at variance with the truth, and which in
turn reinforce our paranoia. And this perpetuation is gradually making our
condition pathological. To elaborate this point I gave examples from our
textbooks, about distortion of history, and how things have worsened over
the years. I recalled how my senior colleagues tell that in the late
fifties, full ten years after independence, some of their examination
papers were set in India, their thesis teachers used to come from India,
how Radio Pakistan used to air Indian film songs until the early sixties,
how Indian films were normally shown in Pakistani cinema houses, how we had
the privilege of learning history in an impartial manner, with details on
the reigns of early Hindu period of Ashoka and Chandargupt Moriya, etc. But
then we purged ourselves of this openness and insulated ourselves in order
to conform everything, including history, to our own mental constructions.
I tried to show that much of what is taught to students nowadays is
anything but truth. The students are fed on falsity and are taught to hate.
Even the most recent history is blatantly distorted. For this I contrasted
some lessons in school text books on the '65 war-where it is stated that
India started the war, attacked Pakistan in the dark of the night, Pakistan
valiantly fought back, winning large enemy territories, India desperately
sought international help in stopping the war and Pakistan graciously
returned the captured territories-against the statements of the former PAF
chiefs, Nur Khan and Asghar Khan. Linking the state of collective paranoia
with nuclear weapons, I quoted a serving Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
Committee telling my friend Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy some years ago that he
would not mind if Indians in retaliation to a Pakistani use of nuclear
weapon destroy all the Pakistani cities and kill millions, as long as
Pakistan can harm India in some manner. In short, I said that our
collective paranoia has reached a pathological state, and realising it is
like diagnosing an illness in time to look for an appropriate treatment.

What happened in response to this talk was interesting. A student stood up
and berated me for negating the Ideology of Pakistan and the concept of
Jehad (I had neither spoken of the ideology of Pakistan nor of Jehad). He
insisted that Pakistanis must destroy India even if it meant complete
annihilation of Pakistan. What struck me most was the loud applause his
statement drew from other students. The student then walked out in protest
against my subversive talk. The rest of the students remained seated for
another half an hour's discussion. And the discussion was lively with
arguments both for and against my contention. I came to realise later
talking to a student of mine that the younger people, particularly those
who have passed through the mainstream educational system where the state
indoctrination is so prevalent, are so heavily conditioned by the text
books that what we say comes to them as an unpleasant shock. This may
explain the ovation the student got after my talk. It also expalins why
jehad has such a wide approval in the society.

More interesting things happened the next day. The event was reported in
the daily Ausaf of 3 May with its typical slant. It attributed to me what I
had not said, and in a very venomous way. For example it quoted me as
saying: "the two-nation theory was wrong", "It is Pakistan's armed forces
which erected the wall of hatred between the peoples of India and
Pakistan", "Pakistan is a mischievous country, and always nags India", etc.

The next day, on May 4, the paper carried a column by its editor (in
essence an editorial) with the provocative headline of "Indian Assault on
Quaid-i-Azam University. The editor repeated all the statements falsely
attributed to me the day earlier, questioning my loyalty to the country,
and asking for my sacking from the university. I later learnt that in a
seminar of journalists on May 3, some journalists, including the editor of
Nawa-e-Waqt, spoke against me on the basis of the Ausaf news. Nawa-e-Waqt
then wrote an editorial against me on 4 May. Ausaf published another news
item on May 5, being more provocative this time by accusing me and my
friends at the Institute of Psychology of indulging in propaganda against
Pakistan and Islam, of being non-believers and denigrating Muslims.

I have written to the editor of Ausaf in Urdu and am in the process of
distributing this letter widely.

Nayyar

_________

#2.

DAWN Magazine
7 May 2000

IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY

By Mubarak Ali

SINCE its inception Pakistan has faced the monumental task of formulating
its national identity separate from India. Partitioned from the ancient
civilization of India, Pakistan has struggled to construct its own culture;
a culture not just different and unique from India, but one appreciable by
the rest of the world. The overshadowing image of the Indian civilization
also haunted the founders of Pakistan, who channeled their efforts in
making the differences between India and Pakistan more tangible and
obvious.

The fundamental difference between India and Pakistan was based on the Two
Nation theory, strengthening Pakistan's Islamic identity. At the same time,
a necessity was felt to outline the geographic differences between India
and Pakistan. It was pointed out that West Pakistan had always remained a
separate region geographically and historically, and, therefore, it had to
be autonomous. Recently, Aitezaz Ahsan in his book The Indus Saga and the
Making of Pakistan has emphasised the geographical and historical
exclusiveness of Pakistan from the Indian subcontinent.

The collapse of Russia and the emergence of Central Asian Republics
inspired most intellectuals and government circles to revive the cultural
links with Central Asia. There have been a number of newspaper articles
tracing the cultural relationship between Pakistan and Central Asia,
claiming that Pakistani people have more affinity with the Central Asians
rather than with the Indians.

In its initial years, the ideology of Pakistan was conceptualized in
national terms rather than religious because it was the country (division
between East and West Pakistan) and not Islam that was in danger. However,
religion remained a strong basis of Pakistan's ideology. In 1971, Radio
Pakistan broadcast the speeches of eleven eminent scholars on the Ideology
of Pakistan with the purpose of providing "an analysis of the recent
happenings in East Pakistan and expose the designs of anti-Pakistan forces,
who have been conspiring since long to strike at the very roots of our
nationhood"

The tragedy of 1971 brought a shock to the people and also a heavy blow to
the ideology of Pakistan. Under those circumstances, it was believed that
the ideology of Pakistan was misused by the ruling classes and never
implemented in its true spirit. More or less convinced of their Islamic
heritage and identity, Pakistan's government and intelligentsia consciously
attempted to Islamize the country. Historically, the process of
Islamization was the outcome of the promises and declarations of the Muslim
League leadership, which had vowed to put in place an Islamic system in
Pakistan. Therefore, after the creation of Pakistan, it was logical to make
Pakistan an Islamic state as it was achieved on the basis of religious
nationalism. However, a few days before the physical Partition had to take
place, Jinnah delivered his famous speech to the Constituent Assembly on
August 11. The secular tone of the address created problems in the Muslim
League leadership as well as in the circle of bureaucracy. An attempt was,
therefore, made to censor Jinnah's speech. This, however, failed.

After the passage of the Objective Resolution in 1949, it was argued that
the Resolution automatically repudiated Jinnah's speech as it provided the
Islamic basis to the new country. However, later on more arguments were
given to reject this speech. It is said that the speech was just an
'aberration' ; and delivered at a time when Jinnah was very sick. However,
in spite of all such arguments, the speech is used by the secularists to
put the conservative elements at bay. Liaquat's attempt to make Objective
Resolution the preamble of the constitution, setting up the Board of
Islamic Teaching in order to advise the Basic Principles Committees on the
Islamic aspects of the constitution was the use of Islam to strengthen
centralization and to curb provincialism. At this stage, though, the
bureaucracy remained in opposition to the ulema and resisted to recognize
them as the final authority in matters of politics and administration. That
is why the proposal to establish the Ministry of Religious Affairs was
rejected in order not to give them any space in the sphere of
administration.

The history of islamization can be traced to the Bhutto era when he
attempted to set up the Ministry of Religious Affairs and coming up with a
Haj policy by terminating the lottery system. The process was further
accelerated after the general elections of 1977 when the opposition
launched a countrywide campaign against Bhutto. The slogan of
Nizam-e-Mustafa and Bhutto's counter-balancing efforts are major marks in
that direction. Zia-ul-Haq furthered the process to buy legitimacy for his
military regime. The element of communal and sectarian hatred in today's
society are a direct consequence of the laws that the dictator had put in
place. Contrary to expectations, the process of Islamization did not stop
after Zia. Benazir in her two tenures maintained the status quo, while
Nawaz Sharif added his own bit, like mandating death penalty to the
Blasphemy Law.

The happenings on the Islamization front, in fact, shed light on the
intentions of the country's leadership, the way it has used Islam to its
convenience and requirements. With the failure of the ruling classes to
deliver the goods to the people, religion was exploited to cover up
corruption and bad governance. Moreover, the process of Islamization not
only supports but protects the fundamentalists in their attempts to
terrorize and harass society in the name of religion. There are published
accounts of the kind of menace that is spread by religious schools run by
these fundamentalists. The political failure of the ruling classes is
giving them further hope that the time is not far when they would be at the
helm of affairs, like their counterparts did in Iran and Afghanistan.

In any ideological state, efforts are made not only to protect the
ideology, but also to disseminate it. Therefore, the state indoctrinates
through media and education. The same process is being followed in
Pakistan. Zia-ul-Haq, during his military dictatorship, coined the phrase
"geographical and ideological boundaries" and made it the responsibility of
his government to defend the same from external and internal enemies. This
declaration made all secular and liberal-minded people enemies of the
countries. They were warned again and again of severe consequences in case
of any violation of the Ideology of Pakistan.

To make the young generation conscious of the Pakistani ideology, the
University Grants Commission of Pakistan made Islamic Studies and Pakistan
Study compulsory subjects at all levels of the education system, even for
the professional students. The Zia government also made the two subjects
compulsory for 'O' an 'A' level students. This gave the government an
opportunity to teach the students its own version of history, especially
the Pakistan ideology, which is described as something like this: "The
struggle was for the establishment of a new Islamic state and for the
attainment of independence. It was the outcome of the sincere desire of the
Muslims of the subcontinent who wanted Islam to be accepted as the ideal
pattern for an individual's life, and also as the law to bind the Muslims
into a single community." In asserting this identity, Pakistan is in a
state of dilemma: in case of rejection of the ideology, it has to repudiate
the very basis of its separation from India; to keep and preserve the
ideology means to alienate the non-Muslim minorities to become a part of
the Pakistani nationhood.

On the other hand, as the ideology has been used by successive political
and military leaderships for their own domination by means of maintaining
over-centralization, it has disillusioned the small provinces. They see the
ideology as a tool that is used to snatch their political rights and to
deprive them of their regional and cultural identity. The alternative that
is suggested by some Pakistani scholars is to reconstruct the Pakistani
identity on the basis of territorial, rather than religious, nationalism.
Hamza Alavi has rightly suggested that by doing so, "we will free ourselves
from our present day hang-ups about the so-called Pakistan ideology and its
confusing appeal to religion, which only has effect of promoting vicious
sectarian conflict". So true, but who cares?
_______

#3.

Please help us get endorsements.

Aly Ercelawn

CALL TO CANCEL OIL & GAS CONCESSION IN PAKISTAN'S KIRTHAR NATIONAL PARK

The Government of Pakistan
Chief Executive
General Pervez Musharraf
Islamabad, PAKISTAN.

Dear General Pervez Musharraf,

We are glad to learn of official initiatives towards the conservation of
natural resources as a reflection of your intentions to promote just and
sustainable development, and as a signal to actively abide by Pakistan's
commitments to international environmental conventions.

We are therefore extremely disturbed that your government has yet to cancel
those concessions for oil and gas exploration granted by previous
governments in complete disregard for national law and international
commitments. We must draw your urgent attention to the particular case of
concessions for exploration in the Kirthar National Park in the province of
Sindh. From the facts available to us, these concessions need to be
cancelled forthwith.

As will be confirmed by the federal Minister for Environment, and the Sindh
Ministers for Environment and for Law, any commercial activity and
exploration specifically are forbidden in the Kirthar National Park by the
Sindh Wildlife Act. Assurances by the federal government of complete
protection of the ecological status of the Park led to its inclusion in the
United Nations List of Protected Sites. Hence all actions which abet and
promote illegal exploration are highly deplorable.

Despite the unambiguous illegality of exploration in protected areas, in
1997 the federal government granted a concession to Shell-Premier. The
provincial government subsequently refused to permit Shell-Premier to
proceed in violation of the law. However, the federal Ministry of Petroleum
has yet to acknowledge the concession as an invitation to illegal conduct.
Regrettably, Shell-Premier have also not offered to return the concession
despite their apparent commitment to lawful conduct and environmental
responsibility.

To address concerns raised by the IUCN and WWF along with other citizen
groups, the Sindh government and Shell-Premier had given assurances last
January that all exploration activities will remain suspended until the
independent assessment of a baseline study of the Park. Reneging on these
promises, federal and provincial officials have colluded with
Shell-Premier staff and consultants to accelerate activities in support of
the illegal exploration concession. These include ecological
investigations inside the Park by an Australian firm as well as the hiring
of a Canadian firm to undertake further impact study of gas exploration,
both being in violation of law and policy.

You will surely understand our alarm at the certain prospects of
irreversible ecological destruction of the Kirthar National Park. We
therefore endorse the call by Pakistani citizens for the immediate
cancellation of the gas and oil concessions granted to Shell-Premier.

Sincerely

Signature, Name, Organisation, Address

_______

#4.

Source: Mid Day
10 May 2000

THE OTHER CHEEK

by Ram Puniyani

After a lull of many months the anti Christian violence is back on the
pages of newspapers. Recently (March- April 2000) there have been several
acts of burning of biblical literature, attacks on nuns and attacks on
missionary institutions. Interestingly while the parliamentary affairs
minister Mr. Pramod Mahajan assured that Govt. has the constitutional
obligation to safeguard the minorities, Mr. Vajpayee in his characteristic
statement went on to condemn the anti-Christian violence also
assuring that guilty will be brought to the book.

It should be noted that just a month and a half ago, before this second
round of anti-Christian violence began Bajarang Dal held its convention in
UP and sent its usual 'clarion call' of the need for the awakening of
Hindus against the conspiracy of conversion activities of the
missionaries, which according to them are anti-national activities. On the
top of all this the vice president of VHP, which has played a major role
in anti-Christian propaganda, which preceded this violence, Giri Raj
Kishore not only said that this violence is being blown out of proportion
by the media but also demanded a probe into these episodes.

This violence suddenly came up on the social scene from late 97. In 1996
there were seven cases of anti-Christian violence which went up to 24 in
1997 and 120 in 1998. Gujarat was the major theatre of this violence where
under the BJP rule the VHP and Bajarang Dal had a field day and they went
on 'merrily' to burn the Bibles, chase the missionaries
with the slogan "Hindu Jago- Christi Bhago"(Awake Hindus, Pack up
Christians). Around this time calls were also given "Christians-Quit
India". In the wake of all these happenings the Gujrat Deputy Commissioner
of Police Mr. C.P.Singh in an interview given to Teesta Setalvad
(Communalism Combat Oct.98) said, "One thing was clear in the pattern of
incidents. It was the activists of the VHP and Bajarang Dal who were
taking law into their hands, which posed serious threat to the peace in
Gujarat. Many of the attacks on the minorities took place after these
organisations had whipped up local passions against conversions (by
Christian missionaries) and alleged forced inter-religious marriages. Our
investigation revealed that in most cases these were entirely baseless
allegations".

Around this time Mr. Vajpayee visited Gujarat and while totally
turning a blind eye to the intimidation of minorities and the anti
Christian violence, did a neat cover up job for the deeds of his siblings
from VHP and Bajarang Dal. Instead of calling for action against the
culprits of violence he demanded a National debate on conversions.

The culmination of the first round took place with the ghastly murder of
Pastor Graham Stewart Stains and his two minor sons Philip and
Timothy (Ages 9 and 7 respectively). President K.R. Narayanan was so much
aghast by this event that he went on to call this as the incident
belonging to the "world's inventory of black deeds". As per him it was a
monumental aberration which went against the traditions cherished by all
Indians. Pastor Stains was torched to death by the Bajarang Dal activist
Dara Singh who could be nabbed only after a long delay. Even before any
investigations could take place three of the ministers of the BJP led
coalition rushed to the spot and in an 'instant investigation' concluded
that murder is a part of international conspiracy to destabilise the BJP
led coalition.

Wadhawa commission concluded that Pastor Stains was not
involved in conversions. Between 1981 to 1991, in Keonjhar district.
percentage of Christians went up marginally from 0.299% to 0.307%. During
the same time the percentage of Hindus went up from 95.10 to 97.62(Wadhva
Commission Report). But this commission failed to take note of all the
evidence of Dara Singh's links with different wings of Sangh Parivar(SP).
Special Investigation Team headed by Padman Sing pointed out that "Dara
Singh was an activist supporter of Bajarang Dal". CBI-Orissa Police report
concluded that Dara Singh attended RSS camps at Maliposi, Champua and
Ghategaonareas of Mayurbhanj district. (The Week, Sept.5th 1999). There
are many more evidences of the links of Dara with different wings of SP.

The intense anti-Christian propaganda, which preceded this phase of
violence, was based on the falsification that Christian missionaries are
using fraud and inducement to convert the gullible Adivasis. The decline
in the percentage of Christian population tells another tale while
quashing this baseless charge. As per the census of India 1991 and 1971
the population of Christians in India stands as follows- 1971- 2.60%,
1981-2.44%, 1991- 2.32 %. The SP needs to be 'complimented 'for its
'brilliant' application of Gobbelesian technique. At a time when the
percentage of Christian population is actually declining, it can
'successfully' inject the myth in popular psyche that conversions are on
the rise. And this myth is than used to rouse the sentiments and emotions
of average people to generate the hatred against the Christians.

The anti-Christian violence came up as a part of the SP campaign to get
bigger foothold amongst the Adivasis. It is in these remote areas that the
missionaries from decades and centuries are busy with their
social work. SP's aim is to arrest the secularisation process, which is
helped due to their educational, and health related activities.
The violence, which has been cultivated, has passed through different
conveyor belts. The RSS manufactures the basic hatred philosophy, BJP
applies this in the in political sphere, VHP specialises in the vehement
anti minority propaganda and Bajarang Dal 'solves' the problems by the
'liberal' use of trident and other associated implements of Religion based
politics of Hindutva.

With most of the anti Christian crime getting exonerated by the state
machinery ruled by SP member BJP, and dominated by the silent and violent
supporters of SP the word has gone round that one can get away after
attacking Christians. Also there seems to be a silent sanction to the anti
Christian violence due to the rabid anti Christian propaganda
spearheaded by SP.So now even the Bajarang Dal probably does not have
to 'spend' its energy for the Hindutva agenda of minority bashing, as now
all and sundry lumpens and criminals of different hues and shades have
discovered the soft target in Christians. That is probably the reason as
to why now even different denominations of SP also can confidently ask for
the probe in to something which had been their major activity.Also they
are sure that if Dara Singh's links with SP can be ignored by Wadhava
Commission other lesser connected followers can do no harm to these
organisations.
__________

#5.

08 May 2000

The conduct of the security and paramilitary forces in the state of Jammu
and Kashmir has been a part of 'unconfirmed' general knowledge for a long
time. Rarely does Indian media report the incidents of wanton destruction of
property, indiscriminate firing, arrests, tortures and 'encounters' by the
security forces. When it does, it does so in a very cautious, roundabout
manner--avoiding giving out precise details and the scale of the outrage.
The last incident of outrageous firing on the peaceful, unarmed
demonstrators in Anantnag (who were protesting the killing of five innocent
civilians by the forces claiming that they were militants responsible for
the Chattisinghpura massacre of Sikhs) shocked all democratic people and
brought to light the method used for 'resolving' the insurgency problem in
Kashmir. On the heel of it comes the news of the rape of a woman by the men
of Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

We give below the statement issued by the All India Democratic Women's
Association (AIDWA) on the latest incident.

dastavez@h...
musafir@i...

=46or a democratic and secular South Asia

* * *

TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE ITBP RAPE ACCUSED

The All India Democratic Women's Association expresses its strong
condemnation and anger against the rape of a woman in Marwal, Pulwama by two
men of the ITBP. Even though the police have registered an FIR the men are
yet to be arrested, pressure is already being put on the victim and her
family to withdraw the complaint.

The situation of women in J and K is going from bad to worse with women
being caught in the cross fire and being victimised including sexually
assaulted by the state forces on the one hand and being targetted by the
terrorists on the other. Such actions by the state forces on a hapless
population is a gross violation of human rights. It gravely compromises the
struggle against terrorism and separatism.

The most stringent action must be taken by the Government to punish the
guilty without any delay.

Brinda Karat
General Secretary,
All India Democratic Women's Association
__________

#6.

Communalism Combat May issue online
http://www.sabrang.com/cc/current/index.html

Main stories are:

India's Shame (cover story)
50 years after the constitution
proclaimed equality for all Indians,
over 160 million Dalits continue to
be victims of a =91hidden apartheid=92,
treated as untouchables, and
worse
*****
'Hinduism, Thy name is inequality!' (History)
Manu's is a degenerate
philosophy of Superman as
compared with that of
Nietzsche and therefore far
more odious and loathsome
than the philosophy of
Nietzsche=92
=97 Babasaheb Ambedkar
****
Violence in the north, dialouge in Kerala (Targeting Minorities)
Christian groups challenge the
NMC=92s claim that attacks on nuns
and priests were 'non-communal'

__________________________________________
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