[sacw] SACW | 30 Dec. 00

[Harsh Kapoor]

SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WIRE
30 December 2000
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex)

#1. Kashmir: Beyond the Ceasefire
#2. India: Press Release by AIDWA: A Fearfully Peaceful South Gujarati
Christmas
#3. India: SAHMAT Jan 1 Statement/Call for Signatures
#4. India: SAHMAT Jan 1 Mandi House Program (New Delhi)

--------

#1.

The Times of India
30 December 2000
Op-Ed.

Beyond the Ceasefire :
Move Quickly on the Political Front

By SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN

BOLD and innovative though it is, the Indian government's unilateral
ceasefire is floundering on the mistaken assumption that Kashmir is
primarily-if not exclusively-a military problem.

For the past 10 years, New Delhi has essentially pursued an armed
solution to the problem in the state. When it found that this solution was
not yielding quick-or even satisfactory-results on the ground, the
political decision was taken to alter its form. The Ramzan ceasefire
announced by Prime Minister Vajpayee may now have stretched into a second
month but what it represents, in essence, is a change of battlefield
tactics. There has been no political initiative of comparable magnanimity.
Granting some Hurriyat leaders-who are all Indian citizens-passports that
should never have been denied them in the first place can hardly count as
a concession.

Though there has been some back-channel engagement with the Hurriyat and
with elements of the Hizbul Mujahideen, the government is still quite far
away from conceiving a broad political framework within which the Kashmir
problem can peacefully be resolved. We are not talking about an endgame
here-whether Kashmir will remain an integral part of India forever, join
Pakistan or go independent-or even about the willingness of militant
groups to `talk about talks'. What is needed is for New Delhi to recognise
that there are concrete political steps it can take to alter the
parameters of the problem.

Without a quick move on the political front, the government might be
forced to return to the battlefield. It is clear by now that the ceasefire
has led to a quantitative and qualitative escalation in militant attacks.
Whether this is the product of the security forces having relaxed their
grip or of militant groups anxious to demonstrate their contempt for the
ceasefire is immaterial. In the absence of tangible political gains on the
ground, public opinion, political parties and even the security forces are
bound eventually to seek a revocation of the ceasefire.

Fortunately for the government, the security forces do not have a uniform
view on the matter. If some commanders argue that a ceasefire allows
militant groups to recoup and position themselves for future attacks,
others believe that a hands-off policy weakens the insurgency both
physically and psychologically, `softening' the homegrown militant and
distancing him from the foreign mujahids. Nonetheless, the consensus seem
to be that military means alone cannot solve the problem. This view was
explicitly stated by Army chief Padmanabhan shortly after he took over in
October this year.

But it is one thing to say that military means alone cannot solve the
problem and another to admit that the manner in which the military
solution was pursued in the past has contributed to the intractability of
the problem. Thanks to a more enlightened approach, there have few major
incidents of human rights violations in recent months. Even so, the
previous incidents-the killing of civilians in Bijbehara and Sopore, the
disappearances-are like open wounds that continue to fester with each
passing day that the guilty go unpunished.

Rightly or wrongly, the majority of Kashmiris in the valley see the
Indian security forces as an occupying power on whom no laws or rules of
engagement apply. Though the Army has moved to court-martial soldiers in
some cases, the vast majority of rights violations by the security forces
go uninvestigated. The National Human Rights Commission is denied
jurisdiction and the judicial system has become a helpless spectator.

The most recent example was what happened at Pathribal-Panchalthan this
year. After fierce protests in which unarmed civilians were fired upon and
killed at Brakpora on April 3, the government agreed to exhume the bodies
of five persons it claimed were militants responsible for the
Chittisingpora massacre in March this year. All five bodies were claimed
by relatives and DNA samples were sent for testing. But as yet, there has
been no move to try for murder in an open court those who were responsible
for the fake encounter.

If the government wants to give an impetus to its ceasefire, it should
make Pathribal a test case of its sincerity. A swift and transparent trial
followed by exemplary punishment of the guilty would go some distance
towards convincing Kashmiris that there is rule of law in this country.

Second, the government should realise that its policy of denying
passports to Kashmiri leaders is not only illiberal and undemocratic but
politically counter-productive as well. The government's view is that the
Hurriyat Conference is a puppet of Pakistan. If that is so, the fact that
the Hurriyat leaders lack passports has clearly not been a hindrance for
the puppet-master. New Delhi's decision to allow several Hurriyat leaders
to travel to Pakistan is perhaps a belated recognition of this fact; even
so, its reported refusal to grant the most pro-Pakistani leader of them
all, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a passport smacks of bureaucratic myopia.

Third, New Delhi should make it unambiguously clear that its invitation
for talks is completely without any riders or conditions. The government's
initial response to the Hizb's ceasefire offer was a mature one which
avoided any mention of the Indian Constitution. But two days later, the
waters were muddied by senior government officials insisting that any
dialogue had to be within the four walls of the Constitution. By the time
Vajpayee clarified matters, it was too late. Hardline elements within the
Pakistani establishment were able to make use of the conflicting
statements to get the Hizb to back off.

On their part, the Hurriyat leaders must also rise to the occasion. When
they go to Pakistan, they should ask Gen Musharraf-who recognises them as
the authentic voice of Kashmir-to get all the militant groups to agree to
a cease-fire and to think about settling their differences with New Delhi
across a negotiating table. If Pakistan agrees, a major roadblock in the
struggle for a peaceful solution will have been overcome and the path
would be clear for Islamabad and New Delhi to also resume their dialogue.

But more than Pakistan or the militants, it is the ordinary Kashmiri that
New Delhi needs to convince. Once the Kashmiri starts having faith in the
Indian government's initiatives, Islamabad and the jihadis will have to
fall in line.

in brief

* Ceasefire should continue despite militant attacks

* Alongside, the government must take political initiatives that win the
confidence of ordinary Kashmiris

* Pathribal incident is a test-case for GOI to prove its sincerity about
implementing rule of law

* Hurriyat leaders also have responsibility to ensure Pakistan and
militant groups adhere to ceasefire and come forward for dialogue

_____

#2.

From: "sjmangalam"
Subject: Fw: PRESS CONFERENCE BY RADHIKA DESAI
Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 23:10:15 +0530

29 December 2000=20

Press Release

A Fearfully Peaceful South Gujarati Christmas

Over the Christmas period, from 23 to 25 December, teams of
4-5 women (and 2 men) stayed in homes of families in Ahwa, Dangs Dist.,
and in Chinndia, Halmodi and Pipalvada, all in Surat Dist. They were part
of an initiative taken by AIDWA's national and state units, and supported
by a wide range of Gujarat-based and national organizations that aim to
combat communalism and the violation of Fundamental and Human Rights.
These organizations include the All India Christian Council, Antyodaya,
Vadodara, Behaviorial Science Centre, Ahmedabad, Bindi, Ahmedabad, CITU,
Gujarat, Democratic Youth Federation of India, Ahmedabad, Indian Christian
Voice, Gujarat Trade Union Council, Indian National Social Action Forum
(INSAF), Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre, Surat, Lok Kala Manch,
Ahmedabad, Movement for Secular Democracy, Navsarjan, Surat, Peoples'
Union for Democatic Rights, Peoples =19 Union for Human Rights, Resource
Centre for Training and Development, Rishta, Ahmedabad, St. Xavier =19s
Social Service Society, Ahmedabad, Sahrwaru, Samvad and the United
Christian Forum for Human Rights, Gujarat.

The teams aimed to monitor the communal situation in the
villages as well as attempt to talk to the women there with the aim of
understanding their situation from their point of view. They also sought
to understand the violence, particularly attacks on minority groups, in
the area which had taken place to that date: its causes and impact. They
were also instructed to monitor any incidents which took place during
their stay there, note the details, and try to understand the impact of
these on the villagers. They were to try to put these things in their
long-term context and appreciate what they meant to the villagers. They
were also instructed to intervene to ensure that there was no trouble,
without putting themselves or anyone else in any danger.

We report breifly on what the teams =19 experience and
analysis was. It is something which is in the interest of people in
Gujarat to know. Indeed, given that the Sangh Parivar has made Gujarat
into a laboratory, this report should be of interest to the nation as a
whole: Gujarat could, if the Sangh Parivar is unchecked, be the image of
the country =19s future. Based on this report we will also be submitting a
memorandum to the Governor of Gujarat, with a copy to the President of
India. They are officially charged with defending the Constitution of
India and it is precisely the latter which is under atttack in Gujarat.

The four places where the teams went each had their
particular sources of tension. In Chinndia, there were the recent widely
reported incidents involving the ECI church. In Ahwa, there is tension
which has lingered since violent events took place there during 1998. In
Halmodi, an unauthorised Hindu temple is under construction under police
watch and protection and, although it is far from complete, threats of an
inaugration, which is widely expected to be provocative and violent, are
made periodically, although permission for this seemed to have been denied
this Christmas. In Pipalwada, although most of the population is
Christian, activities of the Sangh Parivar, particularly a school run by
them, is used as an instrument of provocation.=20=20=20=20=20

In the event, Christmas in South Gujarat passed off
peacefully. No untoward incidents were reported. The district
administrations and police of both Surat and the Dangs should be
congratulated for their good work to this end.=20

However, the teams were not there waiting for something to
happen. On the contrary, it was our fervent hope that nothing would. They
were there primarily to understand the deeper and long terms causes of a
situation in which the uneventful Christmas of 2000 was only a small
victory. It does not, indeed, cannot, mean that the problems which have
been brewing in the region over the last few years have been fully and
finally resolved. Indeed, the Christmas violence of the last few years has
been only been the symptom of this deeper and graver problem.=20=20

It has become urgent to understand these underlying sources and
causes of the grave situation of minorities in South Gujarat. As our teams
were living with and talking to the people of their remote villages,
statements were emerging from the meetings and conferences of the various
bodies of the Sangh Parivar - from the Gujarat BJP to the VHP - as well
as from various religious leaders - from the famous Morari Bapu to the
lesser known Ashramjee Bapu, who works the jungles of South Gujarat - who
are ostensibly engaged in religious work independent of the Sangh
Parivar. Especially in view of the legitimation which the Prime Minister
=19s recent statements have given to the activities and outlook of the San=
gh
Parivar and associated politicized Hindu religious leaders, these
statements portend an intensification of the political campaign against
minorities in the weeks and months to come. In particular, they target the
issue of conversions. They deliberately obscure the fact that freedom of
religion, and therefore the freedom to convert and be converted, is a
constitutionally guaranteed right. South Gujarat, where conversions is
already the major front of friction, is unlikely to remain unaffected by
these initiatives and activities.=20=20=20=20

The teams talked to the local people, particularly women,
tribal women, many of whom are among the poorest in the country. They also
made efforts to talk to members of all sides of any divide or dispute.
They gathered as many details of the situation as they could. They
attempted to understand the underlying issues and how the problems
affecting them have emerged and been framed over the last few years. They
aided in dealing with officials stationed there to ensure that events did
not get out of hand.=20=20

On the whole they found that the trust and faith which had so
far bound adivasi communities together had become deeply disturbed by the
activities of groups outside these communities. The Sangh Parivar and
associated and supporting "Hindu" organizations and personalities were
widely reported to be deeply involved with these outside forces. The peace
orchestrated by the authorities over Christmas certainly ensured a
peaceful Christmas in all four locations. But it is but a temporary
bandaid, at best. The extreme politicization of religion in South
Gujarat today is a function of the political economy of the region.

The Chief Findings:

- The basic reality is that the life of the adivasis of the
region has been changing quite rapidly. Although these are, compared to
the rest of the state and the country, very backward areas and villages,
there too the forces of modernization have changed the economic and social
situation of the adivasis, often for the worse.

- Naturally, as part of this process, there has also been social
change: a greater awareness of their own rights and dignity is part of the
process. The flux in religious affiliation, particularly the trend to
associate with non-adivasi religions in certain sections is tied up with
these trends. Many of the people our teams talked to, for instance,
reported that their lives had been much improved since they came into
contact with this or that Christian denomination and in particular the
quite substantial network of social service organizations run by them.
Giving up liquor, general cleanliness and education in particular were
prominent among the changes reported.

- A very large number of religious groups - Hindu, Christian,
and others are active in the area. In addition to the numerous Christian
churches which include the Catholic Church, various protestant and
evangelical sects, the Church of North India and the Friends Missionary
Prayer Band, the list of other religious organizations would include the
Swaminarayan sect, Pandurang Athavale =19s Swadhyayis, Kabir Panthis,
certain Muslims sects, Aga Khan followers, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad,
Satnamis, Jay Parmatma, Bhatiji, and Jay Gurudev. While there are
important rivalries among them, it is also clear that the most important
source of conflict is the propaganda and other, often violent, activities
of =1CHindu =1D groups against the =1Cconversion =1D of the tribals to
Christianity, in particular. While there are a very large number of Hindu
groups, the activity of the Sangh Parivar is, according to the villagers,
prominent in the area and in the majority of the incidents of violence
which have been occurring at an increasing pace in the area.

- While some of the villages and towns are now deeply divided -
Halmodi and Ahwa among the four visited by us, for example - the dominant
impression we gathered is that relations between members of different
faiths, even when they were of the same family, had until recently been
harmonious. Religious differences had not affected the harmony of the
adivasi communities. However, all felt that recently outside forces had
intervened to cause divisions and to make them fronts of political friction
and violence. Now there are families - for example in Chinndia or Halmodi
in our teams =19 experience - through which these divisions now run!

- On the whole, when there are incidents of violence, the police
have simply failed to charge the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
This means that everywhere the situation tends to keep simmering and is
not resolved. For example, the perpetrators of the violence in Chinndia
have not been brought to justice. This is primarily what allows the
police to graduate from a simple matter of criminal prosecution to a far
more complex dangerous form of policing which is in the format of of
=1Criot control =1D where everybody, including the victims is a potential
rioter.

- During the Christmas period, there was an extremely heavy
police presence in Chinndia, Halmodi and Ahwa such that the villages had
the appearance of being under occupation. No celebration in this context
could have been normal, though the celebrations in Halmodi were quite
elaborate and enjoyable.=20

- On the whole there was a perception that the police were not
impartial, that they often worked in complicity with the forces of
disruption. We ourselves saw small instances of this in Chinndia. There,
amidst a clearly tense situation, the team witnessed an extremely friendly
visit by the head of he Navsari VHP with the police stationed outside the
ECI church. The visit ended as one member of the team phoned the collector
within earshot of a member of the police force. In our meeting with the
District Collector of Ahwa we got the clear impression that the very terms
in which the administrastion understands the situation is bound to weigh
their actions against the majority of the adivasi population. For it
involved putting equal blame on them as on the perpetrators.

- In one village at least, the women complained that the
presence of the police was harassing to the women, rather giving them than
any feeling of safety and security. In Chinndia a policeman entered a home
to ask for water, although there was a handpump right by their camp, and
then proceeded to ask for liquor. We also heard of incidents of bad
behaviour of senior police officials towards women.

- The peace during Christmas of 2000 was built on fear among the
local population. While it is true that most of the violence has indeed
been the work of outside forces, this hardly means that all outsiders to
the village are trouble makers. The atmosphere created during Christmas in
at least two of the villages meant that the hosts of our teams could not
be as hospitable as they would have liked to be. The pressure on them
>from the district administration and police forces caused them a great
deal of anguish, that too at the time of their most important festival,
where hospitality is highly valued. The teams in Chinndia and Pipalvada
had not trouble with their hosts. However, those in Halmodi and Ahwa
experienced the full force of the atmosphere of tension and fear in
creating which the authorities had made a big contribution. For example,
the police told the people in Halmodi =1CDon =19t keep anyone >from outsid=
e at
home. If anything happens it will then be your responsibility =1D. Given t=
he
pervasive police bandobast, and the fear that trouble could still occur, a
pall of fear hung over the celebration of Christmas in the entire region.=
=20
In all of the places where our teams were sent, the price of peace was the
suspension of normal activity.=20=20=20=20

- On the whole, in the smaller villages, particularly Chinndia,
the villagers expressed a sentiment in favour of settling divisive issues
within the village. This is understood to be the established practice.

Bearing in mind all of the above, we demand the following:

1. The government take immediate steps against those who have
engaged in criminal and violent actions in South Gujarat in the name of
religion. It take note that such prosecutions will greatly avert the need
to control the situation in a =1Criot-control =1D format and send out the
message that such activities will not be condoned, no matter the ostensible
cause for which they are undertaken.

2. Immediate efforts be made to ensure that the government
machinery is unbiassed and that the conduct of normal and legitimate
activity in area not be prevented in the name of preserving law and order.

3. The government forthwith notify all administration and police
personnel not to give any support, moral or practical to forces which
object to and campaign against conversions as such. It should be made
clear to them all that the freedom of religion, that is to say the freedom
to practice and propagate the religion of one =19s choice is a fundamental
right according to the Constitution of India.

Radhika Desai
Representative, AIDWA=20

The Teams:

Chindia: =
=20
Halmodi Pipalvada =
=20
Saira Khan Rashidaben
Pathan Amrutbhai=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20
Sonalben Gamit Kirtanben Salve =
=20
Lilaben Konkane
Sumitraben Vasava Kashilaben Cahudhry =
=20
Babyben Gamit
Jashodaben Koshthi Mangilal =
=20
Kiluben Gamit

Ahwa

Ushaben Upadhyaya
Vandanaben Joshi
Ushaben Rathod
Kanduben Vasava

_____

#3.

Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 04:37:05 -0800 (PST)
From: ram rahman
Subject: SAHMAT Jan 1 Statement/Call for Signatures

Sahmat is re-issuing a statement first signed by thousands in 1992 on this
January 1st, the 12th anniversary of Safdar Hashmi's murder. Dilip Kumar
will issue it publically at Mandi House in New Delhi during the annual
street commemoration. We appeal to all friends to sign it by e mail at:
sahmat@n...

"We are deeply pained by the growth of communalism which has assumed
unprecedented proportions in recent days.

All creative endeavour in India has been exemplary in upholding values of
secularism and cultural pluralism. We can no longer be silent spectators to
the destruction of these values which have sustained our thought and
endeavour.

We appeal to all citizens to combat the divisive forces of hatred and
violence."

_____

#4.

Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 05:05:38 -0800 (PST)
From: ram rahman
Subject: SAHMAT Jan 1 Mandi House Program

12th Safdar Hashmi Memorial

Artists would gather once again on January1,2001 at the Safdar Hashmi
Marge, Mandi House to pay homage to the memory of Safdar Hashmi, who was
murdered in 1989 while performing a street play. This year we are
remounting 'Hum Sab Ayodhya' our famous Ayodhya exhibition, and showing
videos from 'Mukt Nad' the night-long event in Ayodhya in 1993. Dilip Kumar
will release a statement and will be part of a presentation of video and
songs from the progressive tradition of the popular cinema which always
stood for the integrated values of our culture. Among those who will
perform on the occasion include Wasifuddin Dagar, Vidya Shah, Madan Gopal
Singh, Navtej Singh Johar, Rahul Ram apart from the street theatre shows.

The programme commence at 2.00 p.m. at Safdar Hashmi Marg, Mandi House.

Join Us!! All are welcome.

Released by Shabnam Hashmi for Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust

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