[sacw] sacw dispatch #2 (25-26 June 00)

[aiindex@mnet.fr]

South Asia Citizens Web - Dispatch #2.
25 -26 June 2000
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

__________________________

#1. Pakistan: Ruling Elites, Language & Identity
#2. India (& neighbours): On Anti Minority violence
#3. Call for contributions: Endangered Peoples of South & Central Asia
__________________________

#1.

The News
Sunday June 25, 2000

Owning our mother tongue

Dr Manzur Ejaz

After giving a terse and agitated performance at the press conference at
the Embassy of Pakistan, Washington, Foreign Minister Mr Abdul Sattar
started enlightening some journalists on the side. He knew his press
conference was "full of sounds and fury" signifying nothing. Therefore,
to prove his intellectual mantel and to dispel the impression of being
void of content, he laid down his vision of the new world.

He described how Pakistan is culturally connected with Central Asia and
why Pakistan's geographical situation is not indicative of its real
character. He lamented and blamed the jihadi forces for creating a wedge
between Pakistan and his dreamland, Central Asia. While explicating
connection between his real homeland and dreamland, he stumbled upon an
inner contradiction as to how a Punjabi from Norowal can be part of
Central Asia and not of the Indus civilization. He spontaneously blurted
out his deep inner contradiction at a high pitch: "There is one
problem...we are stuck with the bloody Punjabi language".

Mr Sattar's undiplomatic expression of his inner thoughts reveals the
fundamental characteristics of Pakistan's Punjabi elites who, in their
mind, are the sole proprietors of the Pakistani nationhood. One thing
obvious is that this elite has been ruthless in mutilating the indigenous
self-identity and the identity of the majority of Pakistanis by
exhibiting contempt towards people's cultures and their language.

However, in showing resentment towards his mother tongue, Punjabi, Mr
Sattar also acknowledges that Punjabis are the real ruling elites who are
stuck with their mother tongue. He ignores Urdu, Sindhi, Pushto or
Baluchi not because he has any empathy with these languages but because
he knows that the speakers of these languages are marginal in determining
the fate and direction of the Pakistani state.

Mr Sattar fondly remembers dozens of writers of Central Asia who had been
in contact with him when he was Pakistan's ambassador to the Soviet
Union. However, it is more than certain that he cannot name a single
Sindhi, Baluchi or Punjabi short story writer. Mr Sattar is not alone in
this league of ruling elites who take pride in studying English, Persian
and other languages from god-forsaken places but not the languages of
their motherland. While ruling East Bengal, they could not name any
Bengali writer. No wonder they were thrown out like all alien rulers are
dislodged eventually. However, they have not learned any lessons and it
appears they will never, at least, in a foreseeable future.

Pakistan's ruling elite in general and the dominant Punjabis in
particular have a history of seeking alien identities in the Middle East,
Ottoman empire, Persia and Central Asia. This elite, comprised of
military and bureaucracy, were the mercenaries of the British empire and
were indifferent or hostile (in practice) to the interests of the people
of the region. The ideologues of present day Pakistan, religious
superstars and their compliments, were looking for a universal salvation
for the Muslim ummah. Both religious and so called secular elites are
interconnected in seeking alien identities. They were against the
indigenous solution for the people of this land. Therefore, it is
ironical that the ruling elites defining the ideological boundaries of
contemporary Pakistan were either indifferent or against its creation.

Pakistan, as a nation, has passed through tumultuous times during the
last 52 years but its ruling elites have refused to alter its ideological
discourse. They have perpetuated their alienated mind sets by despising
indigenous cultures and languages of the people. What are people of a
place without its culture and medium of expression (language) through
which they communicate their joy, sorrows, love, hatred and matters of
daily routine? Can one conceive an Arab a Persian or a Turk without their
respective languages and cultures? It is the language and culture of one
people that differentiates it from others. The language and culture of a
nation may be developed or underdeveloped, crude or sophisticated, simple
or intricate but they carry the seeds of their being.

In fact, it is not the language and culture they despise; it is the
people themselves that they abhor. When Mr. Sattar dumps Punjabi, he
discards an entire spectrum of people who speak this language. He is
trying to get rid of his ownself which belongs to Narowal. In short, for
elites, Pakistan is a place where they can make a comfortable living. It
is a mere abstraction or a vehicle, an instrument, that they can use for
self-aggrandizement. So, in the name of nation, they fulfill their own
grandiose dreams and schemes. Ideological wars are preferred over a
pragmatic socio-political set up which can be conducive to economic
development and better quality of life.

It is ironic that while Mr Sattar was negating his self identity, a
non-Muslim research scholar from India, Prof Pritam Singh, was delivering
a lecture on the contribution by Muslims towards the development of
indigenous languages in the Indian sub-continent. Addressing a mixed
gathering of Muslims and others, Prof Pritam Singh asserted that most of
the modern languages of the region were adopted by Muslim poets and
scholars first. Therefore, by negating indigenous languages, the
alienated elite is rejecting a powerful tradition established by the
Muslims of Indian subcontinent.

=46urthermore, the issue of language and culture is not a mere emotional
issue or a matter of prestige for any ethnic or linguistic group. It can
be shown that development of a people's language is closely linked with
the enhancement of literacy rate and economic growth.

Most of the newly industrialised Asian countries impart education in
their mother tongues and raise a better stock of skilled workers.
Although language is not the only factor that contributes towards better
economic growth and a better quality of life, it plays an important role
nevertheless.

It should not be surprising if Bangladesh or countries of Central Asia
bypass Pakistan in economic development because of their closeness with
indigenous languages and cultures. Then Pakistan's elites will be
idealizing the economies of Central Asia along with their languages and
cultures.

_______

#2.

The 'Favorite' Culprit

by Ram Puniyani

On Thursday 8th June there occurred blasts in four Churches in remote
areas of Andhra, Karnataka and Goa. Most of the people of the country
linked it up with the current ongoing anti-Christian violence perpetuated
by different wings of Sangh Parivar (SP) like Bajarang Dal, VHP etc. In
accordance many a opposition parties blamed SP for the same. BJP
leadership in a clever move to deflect the criticism to its parent
organisation and affiliates put the blame on the ISI for these blasts. BJP
vice -President could even find an undisclosed clear indication of "ISI
involvement" in the incident. Not to be left behind VHP General Secretatry
Mr. Giriraj Kishore asserted the "The army rulers in Pakistan are out to
give Hindu Organisations a bad name " and so the blasts. Surprisingly
this 'investigation' by the BJP and VHP worthies did not take more than a
day before they made their findings public.

In the prelude to Babri demolition country had seen the mass mobilisation
of Kar Sevaks by different Hindutva organisations. Some of them openly
proclaimed that the mosque will be demolished and the debris will be
thrown in river Sarayu. In a span of 5 1/2 hours they razed the mosque to
the ground to unleash the attack on the journalists who had covered the
event. Despite these facts being well known one BJP ideologue Mr. K.R.
Malakani in an article in a popular newspaper went to say that the
demolition was the handiwork of ISI. Slightly on a different track, short
of naming the culprit organisation, the three top ministers of BJP led
coalition in an extremely prompt an 'efficiet invetigation' into the
roasting alive of Pastor Stains with his two sons by the Bajarang Dal
activist Dara Singh, went on to proclaim that it is a part of
international conspiracy to destabilise the BJP govt. This remarkably
'wise' finding could be arrived by these worthies in a single days
investigation. While the 'iron man' Mr. Advani opened his protective
umbrella to the sibling of his organisation, by saying that Bajarang Dal
is not involved in this as HE knows there are no criminals in the
organisation.

Parallels Across the Border:

It is not that only SP has to resort to such baseless blaming of the
others. If we see in Pakistan where the Muslim communalism has been
occupying the seat of power in more or less uninterrupted fashion, most of
the serious events in Pakistan are blamed on our own RAW and other secret
agencies. The Mohajir Quami Movement, which is struggling for the rights
of those Muslims who migrated to Pakistan in the aftermath of Partition is
branded as a product of RAW machinations. The seperation of Bangla Desh
from Pakistan is also attributed only to the role of India in the
occurrence of that phenomenon. While the whole resistance and the
opposition of the Bangladeshis against the imposition of Urdu as the
National language and the domination of West Pakistan on the then East
Pakistan is totally put under the carpet. Even now the Pakistani rulers
are as adept at blaming every negative event in Pakistan to Indian
interference as the SP leaders are adept at seeing the ghost of ISI in the
uncomfortable outcomes of their own politics.

The Pointing finger:

Lets look at the Indian scene to understand the basic mechanism of some
these ghastly acts, for which the finger is pointed at ISI. It is not to
say that ISI is not busy in the dirty game, neither to say that its goal
is not to add to the disruption in the country to the best of its
capability. But if we look the outcome of Communal politics, the ideology
built around the politics of Hindutva, Hindu Rashtra, whose vehicle is the
SP, it will become clear that right from the murder of Mahatma Gandhi to
the anit-Muslim communal violence to the roasting alive of Pastor Stains
to the blats in churches the connecting link between these is the 'hate
ideology' propagated by SP.

Hate Ideology

As per this ideology Mahatma Gandhi appeased the Muslims because of which
they got emboldened and broke this Hindu Rashtra taking away a large chunk
of the Hindu territory. Muslim kings broke Hindu temples, Muslims are more
loyal to Pakistan etc.The same ideology asserts that Christians are
indulging in conversions by force and inducement armed with the money from
West.
Needlees to say all this propaganda is false to the core. But SP has
developed a sort of expertise in Gobbelsian methods and through its vast
network of Shakhas (Branches) is able to spread these lies with a great
amount of 'success'. This basic hatred manufacture is done in the shakha
(RSS unit) baudhhiks (intellectual sessions). From here, by different
conveyor belts which include sympathetic media, educational institutions
and propaganda material spread by the massive reach of this organiostaion.
This basic hate ideology passes through different 'conveyor belts' before
getting transformed in to the mass hysterical reactions generating the
violence which gets implemented through different 'guided' followers who
need not be their official members.

Dumping with a difference:

The biggest achievement of SP lies in the insulation of the parent
organisation from the pullers of triggers or the one's lighting the
matchstick or the one's using the clubs. In the intense anti-minority
atmosphere, especially as most of these go unpunished by the state,
someone trained in 'hate ideology', a follower but not exactly enrolled in
the registers of membership, which anyway are not kept properly, incites
the feelings and the dastardly act follows. It is as true in case of
Nathuram Godse, as in the casae of Dara Singh and many a perpetrators of
small time anti- minority violence.

________

#3.

> H-ASIA
> June 23, 2000
>
> Call for contributions: Endangered Peoples of South and Central Asia
> (forwarded by H. B. Paksoy)
> ***********************************************************************
> Barbara Brower <browerb@g...>
>
> CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS- Endangered Peoples of South and Central Asia
>
>
> I am editor for the volume on South and Central Asia in a series
> entitled "Endangered Peoples: Struggles to Sustain Cultural Survival,"
> an eight-volume project under the direction of series editor Barbara
> RoseJohnson. The series is written for the high school/college reference
> library market, and published by Greenwood Publications. Each volume
> covers a specific geographic region, with 14 to 17 chapters (each
> covering a specific group of people).
>
> The series includes volumes covering the people, problems and
> responses in:
>
> The Arctic (edited by Milton Freeman, U of Alberta), available March 2000
>
> East and Southeast Asia (Edited by Les Sponsel, U of Hawaii), available
> March 2000
>
> Oceania (Edited by Judith Fitzpatrick, U of Queensland)
>
> Europe- (Edited by Jean Forward)
>
> North America and the Caribbean (edited by Tom Greaves, Bucknell)
>
> Latin America (Edited by Susan Stonich, UC Santa Barbara)
>
> Africa and the Middle East (Edited by Robert Hitchcock)
>
> South and Central Asia---
>
> I am writing with an urgent call for help with the South and Central
> Asia volume. The other seven volumes are in press or final stages of
> production, we face a December 2000 series deadline, and we are short
> chapters on Central and lowland South Asia. I am soliciting chapter
> contributors to round out the series.
>
> Each volume in the series contains 14-17 chapters that, taken together,
> sample some of the cultural diversity, human environmental problems that
> threaten group identity and survival, and the range of responses to these
> threats. All chapters are written with a consistent format (same basic
> headings and subheadings in each chapter, one photo, one map) and a
> writing style strictly for a high school/general public audience. We are
> basically striving for a greatly expanded "state of the peoples" -- with
> attention paid to a variety of cultural groups (not just "indigenous").
> Writing style/length is similar to Cultural Survival Quarterly.
>
> If you are interested in contributing to the South/Central Asia volume,
> or have suggestions for possible chapter contributors, please contact me
> ASAP.
>
> Sincerely,
> Barbara Brower
> Editor, Himalayan Research Bulletin
> Geography Department
> Portland State University
> Portland, OR 97207-0751
> browerb@g...
> (503) 725-8044; (800) 547-8887 ext 5-8044

______________________________________________
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