[sacw] SACW Dispatch #2 | 21 July 00

[Harsh Kapoor]

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

#1. Sri Lanka: 7 trade unions urge President to repeal emergency regulations
#2. Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka Press Council equates lesbianism with sadism
#3. Jamaat i Islami Boss says Pakistan Must Not Sign CTBT Even If India Does
_____________________

#1.

[Recieved from B. Skanthakumar]

The Island (Colombo)
=46riday 21 July 2000

SEVEN TRADE UNIONS URGE PRESIDENT TO REPEAL EMERGENCY REGULATIONS

Seven trade unions including the powerful Ceylon Bank Employees Union has
urged President Chandrika Kumaratunga to repeal the regulations incorporated
under the Emergency Regulation under which the fundamental democratic rights
and civil
liberties of the people were suppressed or severely curtailed, a senior
spokesman for the group said yesterday.

He said that the Ceylon Mercantile Industrial and General Workers Union, the
Ceylon Bank Employees Union, Public Services United Nurses Union, Union of
Post and Telecommunications Officers, Technological Services Trade Union
=46ederation, Ceylon
Estate Staff Union and Confederation of Public Service Independent Trade
Union wrote to President Kumaratunga requesting her to cancel the increase
in the price of LP gas by Rs. 105 per 12.5 kg cylinder.

They also urged her to reduce the increases that have been made in the price
of diesel and bus fares, repeal the Emergency Regulation under which
individual electricity consumers, as distinct from business and other
institutions have to submit to a 25%
surcharge in their monthly consumption of electricity, if they were unable
to reduce their consumption as required by the Regulation and to restore the
par value of the rupee to what it was prior to the 5% devaluation on June 21
this year.

The following is the full text of the letter dated July 14:

"We refer to the Emergency (Miscellaneous Provisions and Powers) Regulation,
No. 1 of 2000, promulgated by you under the Public Security Ordinance on 3rd
May 2000, under which the fundamental democratic rights and civil liberties
of the people of
this country, including freedom of expression and assembly, the right of
workers to strike in any service or industry and the rights of public
procession and picketing as well as freedom from arbitrary arrest, were
suppressed or severely curtailed.

"We also refer to the substantial increases in the prices of LP gas, diesel
and bus fares, that were imposed by or with the consent of your government,
whilst the people, including millions of low-paid workers and the masses of
the rural poor, who were worst
affected thereby, have been kept legally bound hand and foot, and gagged,
under that emergency Regulation.

"The above-mentioned price increases have been followed by another Emergency
Regulation, promulgated on 31st May 2000, which makes every person who
consumes electricity liable to a 25% surcharge on the amount of his monthly
electricity bill, if that
person fails to reduce his monthly electricity consumption (however limited)
by 20% of his average monthly consumption in the months of March, April and
May 2000.

"On top of all this, the Central Bank, no doubt at your instance as Finance
Minister, has announced a devaluation of the rupee by 5% of the selling rate
of the US dollar with effect from 21st June 2000. This has further
accentuated the rise in the cost of
living to unbearable levels for most of the working population throughout
the country.

"We have to state that there can be no justification whatsoever for the
suppression of the democratic rights and civil liberties of the people
throughout this country, on account of the military situation in the North
and East, however serious it may be from the point of view of your
government. The imposition of additional economic burdens on the people on
account of the continuance of the war in that situation, for which the
people bear no responsibility, also cannot be condoned.

"Furthermore, we have to point out that you yourself declared at the meeting
of trade union representatives, including some of ours, convened by you on
16th May last, that it cannot be denied that corruption and commissions on
contracts connected with
the conduct of the war could account for even 50% of the total expenditure
on that account. This could only mean that half or more of the billions of
rupees that are said to be spent as "defence expenditure", are actually
finding their way into the pockets of
unscrupulous persons within your own government and/or its agents in the
civil and military bureaucracy, or arms dealers and other contractors for
this, again, it is not the people who are responsible. They should not
therefore have to contribute anything
towards those billions, through direct and indirect taxes. Still less should
they be called upon to make 'sacrifices' for the conduct of the war, under
the circumstances.

"For the reasons above-mentioned, our unions denounce your promulgation of
the above-mentioned emergency Regulations and the heaping of unbearable
economic burdens on the people thereafter."

______

#2.

[Recieved from: B. Skanthakumar]

SRI LANKA PRESS COUNCIL EQUATES LESBIANISM WITH SADISM

The Sri Lanka Press Council has outraged human rights activists in a
disgraceful ruling on June 02 which condones an incitement to rape lesbians
and which brands lesbianism "an act of sadism".
The Council which is the regulatory body for the Sri Lankan print
media had
been asked to adjudicate on the conduct of an English-language daily
newspaper which in August last year published a letter calling upon the
police to let loose convicted rapists on a proposed conference of lesbians
in Colombo.
(That conference which would have been the first in South Asia was
postponed when its timing clashed with snap Presidential elections and is
now scheduled for later this year.)
While that letter appeared without comment by the newspaper, it
refused to
publish a letter of reply by "Companions On a Journey" (COJ), which is a Sri
Lankan organisation working on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention as well as
lesbian and gay rights.
Sherman De Rose, Director of COJ, approached the Press Council
arguing that
his right to free expression had been denied. Unfortunately its intervention
has set back the human rights agenda in Sri Lanka and legitimised hate
crimes against lesbians and gays.
Not only did the Council find against the complainant (and fine
him), it
then went on outside of its mandate and powers to offer its opinion on the
content of the letter and the general subject of homosexuality.
While conceding that the letter encouraged rape, the Council argued
that it
was only the writer manifesting his disapproval of lesbianism.
The Council then scolded De Rose for encouraging and promoting
"abnormal or
immoral acts" and for denying the right of others to criticise homosexuality=
=2E
Its final insult was to conclude that as De Rose is male and would
not have
been harmed or in danger of being harmed he had no standing before the
Council on the issue!
In fact De Rose responds he was only asserting his equal right to free
expression and asking the Council to take action against the incitement to
violence against women which is a criminal act.
There has been no public comment or action taken by the Media Minister,
Mangala Samaraweera, to whom the Press Council is accountable, and whose own
sexual orientation is well known. "Companions On a Journey" request letters
of protest to:

The Chairman
Sri Lanka Press Council
No. 346 Nawala Road
Rajagiriya
Sri Lanka
=46ax: 00-94-1-876-511 or 00-94-1-876-512

and

Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Media
West Tower
World Trade Centre
Echelon Square
Colombo 01
Sri Lanka
=46ax: 00-94-1-440-488

______

#3.

PAKISTAN MUST NOT SIGN CTBT EVEN IF INDIA DOES

Only Global Nuclear Disarmament Can Eliminate
All Nuclear Weapons in the Whole World

Unilateral, Bilateral, or Regional Nuclear Disarmament is
Unacceptable

OTTAWA, Canada, July 19, 2000 (JI): Jamaat-e-Islami (JI)
Pakistan President Qazi Hussain Ahmad has said that Pakistan
must not sign the discriminatory Comprehensive Nuclear Test
Ban Treaty (CTBT) even if India signs the CTBT and even if
Israel ratifies the CTBT.

The JI Ameer (President) said the nuclear weapons
development program of Pakistan is a deterrent against
Hindu-Indian aggression. It is necessary for the national
security of the country to maintain a balance of nuclear
power in the South Asian region, he said. Qazi Hussain Ahmad
said Pakistan will be ready to denuclearize only if all
nuclear weapons states in the whole world, including the
United States, Britain, Israel, France, Russia and India,
de-nuclearize themselves. He said all the bigger nuclear
powers, especially the United States, Russia, Britain,
=46rance and Israel, should set an example in this regard by
destroying all their nuclear, biological, chemical and laser
weapons to prove to the entire world that they are not
dependent on nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass
destruction for their national security. He said Pakistan
would become more dependent on nuclear weapons if any kind
of sanctions were imposed against the 130 million strong
Pakistani Nation.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad said peace, justice and stability could
be brought to the South Asian region only if the Kashmir
dispute is resolved in accordance with the wishes of the
Kashmiri people and the United Nations resolutions on
Kashmir. International Community and Commonwealth states
should play their positive roles to negotiate a peaceful
settlement of the Kashmir issue, he said. He went on to say
that in order to hold a Pakistan-India dialogue on
Hindu-occupied Kashmir, India must publicly recognize the
existence of the 53-year-old Kashmir dispute. He said the
so-called Line of Control, which divides the Jammu & Kashmir
state into Azad Kashmir and Hindu-held Kashmir, is a
temporary arrangement and should not be given the sanctity
or status of International Border. He said the resistance in
Hindu-occupied Kashmir is an indigenous freedom movement and
Kashmir will remain a nuclear flashpoint if India fails to
resolve the Kashmir conflict. He said constructive
engagement and not sanctions will be the right policy for
the imperialist states in Afghanistan.

Jamaat-e-Islami wants the Pakistan Government to expedite
the accountability process and undertake electoral reforms
as soon as possible to transfer power to a democratically
elected government, said the JI President.

Responding to other questions asked by Canadian Foreign
Ministry officials during his meeting with Ms. Ingrid Hall,
Director-General of South Asia and Southeast Asia Bureau at
the Canadian Foreign Ministry in Ottawa, Qazi Hussain Ahmad
said the citizens of Pakistan would not accept any big
change in the Pakistan Constitution and the ruling
government should not tamper with the agreed-upon matters of
the Pakistani Nation. He said Jamaat is striving for the
establishment of real democracy in Pakistan and Jamaat is
the only political party having regular elections inside the
party and a strict adherence to party Constitution by its
members.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad said Jamaat is not against all NGOs per
se but it is against some NGOs which are promoting Alien
Culture and immoral values in Pakistan with assistance from
outside the country. He said JI itself is involved in
various economic development projects and Jamaat workers are
running thousands of schools and hospitals across the
country.

Responding to a question on rights of women in Islam, the JI
Ameer said Jamaat has proclaimed a charter for women's
rights and Jamaat=EDs Women Wing is the most active among all
the political parties in Pakistan. He said education and
technical training of women and children is the most
important task in any civilized society and the Islamic
social system encourages women to be available for children
at home and to become a nucleus for home and family. It is
due to this reason that the more educated women are, the
more conscious they become of their social and family
responsibilities. He said Islam does not allow extra
judicial killings and honor killing has nothing to do with
Islam.

During his meetings in Canada, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan
leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad was accompanied by Jamaat-e-Islami
=46oreign Relations Director Abdul Ghaffar Aziz and JI Deputy
Director Asif Luqman Qazi.

______________________________________________
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