[sacw] sacw dispatch #1 (15 May 00)

Harsh Kapoor aiindex@mnet.fr
Mon, 15 May 2000 14:15:06 +0200


South Asia Citizens Web - Dispatch # 1
15 May 2000
________________________________
#1. Time to wage peace between India - Pakistan
#2. Sri-Lanka's Senseless war: Tamils Wait & Worry
#3. India ACTION ALERT: textbooks describe 'Muslims, Christians
& Parsees as foreigners' and glorify Nazism and Fascism
#4. India must address the poverty issue
#5. Protest the prosecution of the JNU students for promoting Indo Pak Amity
________________________________

#1.
The News on Sunday / News International (Lahore, Pakistan)
14 May 2000

Time to wage peace

by Aisha Gazdar

Ordinary people-to-people contacts between Indians and Pakistanis
underline their sincere desire for amity between the two countries, a
desire that transcends the messages of hate being propagated by vested
interests If it were left to the ordinary women and men of India and
Pakistan, relationship between the two countries would be one of peace
and harmony. The significance of people-to-people contact and the
warmth which exists between them was brought home by the 63 strong
delegation of women who paid a reciprocal peace visit to India after a
group of Indian women visited Pakistan a month earlier. Asma Jahangir
who led the delegation shared their experiences at a meeting held in
the memory of Dr. Eqbal Ahmed as well as to condemn India's testing of
the atom bomb two years ago on May 11 1998 which changed the entire
political scenario in the region. The meeting was called by Joint
Action Committee for Peoples' Rights, Lahore.
The highlight of the week long visit was the genuine warmth expressed
by the Indians for the visiting Pakistanis. They were literally
deluged with flowers and gifts wherever they went. People who had left
their homes and memories across the border came up to ask them if they
were from Multan or Gujrat. A man who owned a mithai shop in Agra and
who had migrated from Layyah piled them with boxes and boxes of
mithais. Two young men came to see them in a hotel lobby in Delhi
where the delegates had stopped for tea and wanted to touch their feet
"for their mother".who was too ill to come herself but who wanted her
sons to go on her behalf and "see these women from Lahore". Wherever the
delegates went they were greeted with songs of peace and friendship
from school children to people in the streets. Such outpourings of
emotions cannot just be swept under the carpet and ignored and they
exist on both sides of the divide. An old woman came to see off the
delegates at 6.00 am as they boarded the buses for Delhi at Falletis,
Lahore. She had read in the papers that a peace bus was going to India
and wanted to wish the women well and pray for peace.
Stressing the need for people to people diplomacy, Asma Jahangir spoke
of the imminent danger of war between the two atomic countries. The
time has has come, she stressed, for people to take the initiative
from the governments of both countries. "We have seen fifty two years
of hostility and hatred, which has brought nothing but misery to the
nation. Give us ten years of peace and we will show you what can be
done with prosperity." Asma also came out strongly against the
extremist forces on both sides of the border who have a clear agenda to
destroy the progressive voices that speak of reason and peace. "They
don't want peace because they have a vested interest. They make money
through violence and Kashmir, so they don't want any dialogue."
Contrary to what has been appearing in a section of the press, the
women's group was an extremely disciplined one and represented
Pakistan with the utmost responsibility. They did not shy away from
talking about the human rights abuses in Kashmir by the Indian forces,
and their criticisms were reported in the Indian press. It is the
attacks by the religious right against these women which needs to be
condemned, and which bears out Asma's warning about the danger posed
to the progressive elements by religious extremists who are without a
political constituency.
The visit to Delhi also brought to the fore the issue of Prisoners of
Wars in both countries. The women were surprised to learn that there
are still prisoners of war in Pakistan as well as India and a fact
finding mission will start to ascertain the exact figures. Speaking at
the occasion was also Dr. Mehdi Hasan who warned of the dangers of
continued hostility between India and Pakistan. He observed that
Pakistan has gone into isolation since its own nuclear tests and is
looked upon as a pariah by the world. Dr. Hasan blamed the current
drought and famine in the country on ill planning by sucessive governments
and said that this was not a situation that has developed overnight.
Questioning those who are calling for a war over Kashmir, he asked why
these people don't go for jehad themselves, instead of sending naive
youngsters. "Those who speak about peace do not have to be apologetic
about their views but the need is to be as militant as those who talk
of war." Ten years after the first peace mission to India in 1990
which consisted of five people including the late Nisar Osmani and
Eqbal Ahmed, official relations between the two countries are at the
lowest ebb. There is some ray of hope, however, by the new wave of
peace which has started between the peoples of India and Pakistan and it
is upto the people to keep the momentum going even in the face of
resistance.
_______

#2.

Washington Post

Tamils Wait and Worry Sri Lankan Refugees Fear for Families In Embattled Cit=
y
By Pamela ConstableWashington Post Foreign ServiceMonday, May 15, 2000;
Page A16
NEW DELHI, May 14=97In a sparse, dollar-a-night rooming house in the Sri
Lankan capital of Colombo last week, a dozen Tamil refugees waited
anxiously for word from their families stranded in the northern city of
Jaffna. Fighting between Tamil rebels and army troops has been escalating
near the city for days, but all telephone lines have been cut and virtually
all news blacked out by the government.
"I have four daughters back home in Jaffna, and I am dead scared for
them," said Arul Seeli, 56, who was interviewed Friday in Colombo. "I sent
my other children abroad to save them from all this. I talked to them on
the phone from Germany this morning, but they were afraid to tell me what
they've heard, because they don't want to frighten me even more."
Despite government efforts to portray the military situation as under
control, the intense fighting engulfing the remote Jaffna peninsula has
sparked widespread alarm among minority Tamils in Sri Lanka.
At the same time, the rebels' stunning seizure of a key army base on the
peninsula last month, followed by reports of other rebel attacks near
Jaffna, have aroused anger among the majority Sinhalese, many of whom feel
the government has failed badly to crush the insurgency.
"We could easily defeat these terrorists, but the government has not taken
them seriously and the army is demoralized. Now, as a result, we are
entering the mouth of the devil," said Thejanu de Silva, a student who
belongs to a Sinhalese organization called the National Anti-Terrorist
Movement.
The rebels, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, have been
fighting the Sri Lankan army for nearly 17 years, and more than 50,000
people have died in the conflict. The Tigers' ultimate goal is the creation
of an independent homeland called Eelam for Sri Lanka's 2.5 million Tamils,
who represent 13 percent of the population and are mostly Hindu. The
Sinhalese majority is largely Buddhist.
If Jaffna--a Tamil city of 500,000 controlled by army troops--should fall
to the Tigers, many Sri Lankans say the repercussions would ripple far
beyond the isolated peninsula. One prediction is that it would lead to the
government's defeat in elections planned for August. Another concern is
that it could set off bloody riots between Tamils and Sinhalese in the
capital, a repeat of violence that occurred in 1983.
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga faces a double challenge.
While scrambling to shore up besieged army troops in the north, she is also
trying to preserve political peace in the south, by persuading Tamils her
government is committed to protecting them and convincing Sinhalese it is
determined to defeat the rebels.
"Let us learn the lessons from our recent setbacks and march forward to
wipe out [Tiger] terrorism completely," Kumaratunga said in a statement
=46riday, promising to provide "the most modern arms" and equipment to some
40,000 troops on the peninsula. At the same time, she has stressed that she
seeks to "ensure the security of the Tamil people and all other minorities."
Diplomats and independent analysts said Kumaratunga is sincere in her
desire to end the war and bring ethnic harmony to Sri Lanka, a longtime
parliamentary democracy. But in the current crisis, she has resorted to
repressive emergency decrees that could erode public confidence and damage
her government's credibility as democratic.
Heavy censorship of reporting on the conflict, including a black-out of
some television newscasts and a requirement that newspapers submit all
stories to a censor, has generated protests from human rights groups and
opposition party leaders. A ban on public rallies and an expansion of
police powers, largely aimed at preventing mob violence by Sinhalese, has
also led to police harassment of Tamils.
"The government has taken due precautions to prevent any backlash [by
Sinhalese], but these controls raise other questions, too," said Joseph
Pararajasingham, a Tamil member of Parliament. "With such stringent
restrictions on the press, people have no idea what is really going on. All
of this leads away from democracy and toward dictatorship."
One result of the army's recent setbacks is the emergence of Sinhalese
extremist groups who assert that Kumaratunga's ruling alliance and the main
opposition party--both dominated by Sinhalese--have failed to defend
Sinhalese interests. A new political party called Sinhalese Heritage was
launched last week, but its inaugural rally was immediately banned.
"This is absurd. It seems the government is more interested in fighting
its political enemies than the rebels," said S.L. Goonesekara, a lawyer and
founder of Sinhalese Heritage. "Both major parties are so worried about
courting the minority vote that the Sinhalese voice is never heard, and
when we do open our mouths, we are accused of being racists."
For many Tamils who have fled to the capital, the emergency rules have
heightened their worries about friends and relatives back in Jaffna. At
Tamil rooming houses throughout the city, Sinhalese-speaking police knock
on doors at 4 a.m., checking identification cards and looking for suspected
rebels.
The refugees say they feel trapped, unable to return to Jaffna because of
the fighting but reluctant to venture out in the capital for fear of being
detained. Some said they still dream of a future Tamil homeland, but others
said they spend all day in their rented rooms, essentially waiting for the
war to end.
"People feel depressed and isolated. The psychological toll is very
heavy," said Poti Martin, 32, a laborer who said he has been detained
repeatedly by the Colombo police. "If we Tamils are to have true freedom,
perhaps we do need an Eelam. But right now, freedom for us would mean just
being able to sleep through the night."
=A9 Copyright 2000 The Washington Post Company

_______

#3.

ATTENTION * ATTENTION * ATTENTION * ATTENTION
SABRANG ALERT

MAY 8, 2000
One step forward, two steps back

The Gujarat government admits its textbooks describe 'Muslims, Christians
and Parsees as foreigners' and glorify Nazism and Fascism. But the Union
HRD minister insists he will not direct any revision in these texts showing
us all that there can be no room for complacency

Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Union minister for human resources development has
told a cross-party committee of Parliament that he 'cannot force the
Gujarat government to withdraw from school textbooks the description of
Muslims and Christians as 'foreigners.' Other discrepancies in the social
studies texts of the Gujarat board (as in many other Indian text books
brought out by both central and state boards) include glorification of the
Varna system of caste and of fascism and nazism, without recounting the
selective extermination of 6 million Jews in concentration camps!
Last month we had shared with readers the success of the campaign that we
had a significant role in generating through the KHOJ secular education
programme. The fact that hundreds of teachers had begun looking at the
content and scope of Indian text books, the fact that the national and
international media had focussed on the issue and finally, the sheer fact
that the Gujarat government was compelled to admit to the discrepancies in
its reply to a standing Parliamentary Committee on HRD set up precisely to
examine whether the bias and saffronisation charge on Indian texts could be
established (CC,April 2000) were the milestones of our success.
Within weeks of this success comes the setback in the brazen stand of the
Union HRD minister that he cannot intervene. It reveals how, for the
success of any of our campaigns to be enduring we have to keep persisting
without giving up. It is not enough to launch the campaign, we have to show
bureaucrats and the government that citizens take this issue seriously and
mean business.
Through this all, the proverbial silver lining on the dark clouds on our
horizon comes in the very admission of discrepancy or bias extracted by the
Parliamentary Committee from the Gujarat state textbook board. This is
enough to consolidate and carry on our campaign until the Gujarat texts, at
the very least, have been changed.
We reminded readers in the last issue that while the success in Gujarat
must be enjoyed and consolidated by us, there was no space nor the time for
complacency. It is not just the Gujarat texts that are problematic. Many
texts of the more prestigious ICSE board, some recommended texts for
graduation level history in Maharashtra, texts in Uttar Pradesh and
Rajasthan are also glaring examples of the same or similar kinds of bias.
Hence the campaign needs to build up and carry on.
Write protest letters to

K.R. Narayanan
The President of India
Rashtrapati Bhavan
New Delhi 110004
=46ax 91-011-3017290

Atal Behari Vajpayee
Prime Minister of India
7, Safdarjung Road,
New Delhi 110001.

Parliamentary Committee (HRD)
Lok Sabha Secretariat,
Parliament House,
New Delhi 110 001.

Murli Manohar Joshi,
HRD Minister,
Shastri Bhavan,
New Delhi 110001

******
Teesta Setalvad
Javed Anand

Meanwhile, Communalism Combat has managed to access a copy of the report
submitted by the Parliamentary standing committee on HRD that was examining
the issue. It makes interesting observations.
Commenting on the stand taken by Joshi in refusing to interfere in the
content of the textbooks of the Gujarat board, the report says, "It was
explained to the Committee that publication of the textbooks was entirely
decentralised and neither the government of India nor NCERT has any control
over the textbooks published by state boards. The Committee is of the view
that in the event of such an instance taking place, the Department should
take steps to put the factual position in the right perspective by
initiating a dialogue with the concerned state government. (emphasis added)"=
=2E
One of the members of the Parliamentary standing committee, Eduardo
=46aleiro, submitted a dissenting note to the chairman of the committee, S.B=
=2E
Chavan.
In this note, Faleiro says, "The Constitutional mandates of secularism and
democracy are essential prerequisites for national unity and social
harmony. The government of India should therefore take a serious view of
school and college textbooks such as mentioned before the committee which
are objectionable from the above point of view. Government of India should
instruct the concerned state governments to withdraw such textbooks or
delete the objectionable passages contained therein."
The note also concludes, "On the basis of the material placed before the
committee it is strongly felt that Dr. K.C. Rastogi who has been appointed
by the minister of human resource development as his representative in the
selection committee of NCERT is unsuitable for this office and should be
removed from the same."
The infamous Rastogi, apart from being a proud member of the RSS, is the
man who led a mob to attack a Muslim habitation in 1947 and he himself shot
dead a Muslim woman "to save my colleagues from raping her"(From his
autobiography, Aap Beeti). He is today also a member of the executive board
of the Open School Society and of the executive council of the National
Institute of Educational Planning and Administration.
(Communalism Combat, May 2000)

http://www.sabrang.com
_________

#4.

The Statesman
15 May 2000
Op-Ed.

Editorial and Perspective

BETTER OFF India must address the poverty issue PAKISTAN=92S Economic Survey
points out, with expected self-congratulation, that in terms of social
indicators it is ahead of many developing countries including India.
Pakistan has a higher per capita GNP. It has a smaller percentage of people
below the poverty line. In terms of health indicators it does better than
India. And in some infrastructure sectors it is ahead of India and other
developing countries. Indian foreign ministry officials agree that the
facts presented by the survey are substantially correct. This is not an
occasion for Indians to go into paroxysms of chest-beating. Whether or not
Pakistan has performed better than India in crucial areas of poverty
alleviation and provision of social services is not so much the point. The
crucial point is that despite its vast potential in terms of natural and
human resources, India has failed to feed, clothe, house and educate
itself. This has been due to faulty macro-economic policies and the
inability, arising out of a lack of political will, to put into place the
rudiments of a welfare state. The political classes do not care, and those
who do =97 the poor =97 do not have a voice. Because the state has repressiv=
e
power, though it lacks the will to development. It can be said that
Pakistan=92s self-congratulation is undermined by the inherent weaknesses of
its economy in terms of industrialisation, capital generation,
overdependence on foreign aid. These have created serious economic crises.
Pakistan is at the moment in the grip of a crisis brought on by nuclear
tests and military adventurism. But from the Indian point of view the
financial and economic crisis that plagues Pakistan is not the point at
all, except insofar as it tends to destabilise a regime given to hardline
militarist postures. What should concern India is the failure of its
development programmes, the emaciation of the social service sector, the
lack of basic infrastructure, high =97 should one say unconscionable =97 lev=
els
of poverty and inequality and widespread systemic failures. Indian
democracy has survived dark prophecies. But it is clear that the
distortions in the political structures seriously detract from the
substance of representative government. And if crucial economic questions
are not addressed, there is the danger of democracy itself being perverted
beyond recognition.

_________

#5.

15 May 2000

Please individually sign the appeal and email directly
to the following in the interest of time:

fahmidariaz@h...
mazumdar@e...

We need to protest the prosecution of the JNU students
union organizers. This is urgent as the list of
signatories has to finalized by the beginning of this
week.

Thanks,

Pratyush
---------------------------------------
STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF JNU STUDENTS
---------------------------------------
We, the undersigned, are shocked by the manner in which the recent
incident of diruption of a mushaira at JNU involving three persons
including two army officers is being dealt with by the police and by the
calculated misrepresentation of the incident being actively encouraged by
representatives of the Central Government. A large number of people
gathered at the mushaira were witness to three persons in civilian
clothes brandishing pistols and passing offensive remarks. While we
condemn the violence that followed, we find the brandishing of pistols by
anyone at a poetry event a highly provocative and incendiary act. We wish
to ask why the army officers who were attending the mushaira in civilian
clothes were at all carrying weapons. The refusal by the police to lodge
an FIR and the arrest of the Students' Union President (in a case
registered two years ago) when he went to file the FIR is both violative
of law and evidence of deliberate official bias operating to cover up the
behaviour of the concerned army officers and to make the Students' Union
the target of attack despite the fact that the Union has also condemned
the violence. The statements by a Minister of the Central Government
(reported in The Hindustan Times, 5 May) assuring "suitable action
against the people involved in the brutal assault on the Army officer"
and completely ignoring the provocative acts of the officers suggests
governmental approval to this deliberate bias. Encouraged by this bias
that projects the organisation of a mushaira with poets from India and
Pakistan as a dubious activity, sectarian political interests have gone
to the extent of making ludicrous appeals on the JNU campus to identify
and report ISI agents. We are gravely concerned that the official
falsehood being orchestrated to misrepresent the facts of and
circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident is not merely to
protect the erring army officers but to attack the democratic culture of
JNU.
__________________________________________
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