[sacw] SACW | 18 Dec. 00

[Harsh Kapoor]

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

#1. Pakistan: Exile Deal Salts Old Wounds of Pakistan's Unrich
#2. India's North East: Whose rights do we speak of anyway?
#3. India: Hindu Supremacist RSS sells the Hindu rashtra
#4. India: Conversion-reconversion: south Gujarat may go up in flames again
#5. India: Zealot batters a path to new temple
#6. Nepal: Changes to constitution considered
#7. Bangladesh: Five new exhibitions open at Chobi Mela

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#1.

The New York Times
December 17, 2000

Exile Deal Salts Old Wounds of Pakistan's Unrich

By CELIA W. DUGGER

Celia W. Dugger/ The New York Times Sheik Rashid, right, feels "broken
from inside" at the military regime's exile arrangement with an ex-premier.

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Dec. 15 =97 The politician, a small-time silk trader
who carefully tends his constituency, is holed up in his second- floor
office here, above the teeming, fragrant lanes of the bazaar where he
hawked notepads as a child.

After 15 years in Parliament, the politician, Sheik Rashid knows that the
rich and well-connected usually rule this impoverished nation of 150
million people. He has seen their arrogance up close. Still, he said,
nothing prepared him for what happened last Sunday.

The former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, who had been jailed since he was
toppled in a coup a year ago, and 17 of his relatives flew to a luxurious
exile in Saudi Arabia as guests of the Saudi royal family. In Mr. Rashid's
eyes, his leader cut a deal with Pakistan's military government to save his
own skin, abandoning a budding movement for the restoration of democracy
and stunning many of his loyalists.

This is the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims, but Mr. Rashid is avoiding
parties held to break the daily fasts. He said he doesn't know what to say
=97 and the exile deal is all anyone is talking about. He doesn't want to
condemn Mr. Sharif, a rich man who gave him Rolex watches and suits from
Harrods and cash to run his campaigns. But he doesn't want to lie about
what he sees as his leader's lack of courage, either.

"I feel broken from inside," said Mr. Rashid, who himself served time
under three earlier military dictators and who referred to Mr. Sharif's
year behind bars as "peanuts." "The people were so innocent. They believed
in us."

The combined effect of Mr. Sharif's choice of comfort over martyrdom and
the military government's decision to let him escape life imprisonment has
been to diminish the moral standing of both.

Mr. Sharif, reviled as a corrupt plunderer of the public treasury at the
time of the October 1999 coup, had begun to win back some sympathy as his
time in prison lengthened =97 and might have resurrected his political care=
er
had he stayed on to fight for democracy from his cell, politicians and
analysts here say.

Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who has tirelessly presented himself as the honest,
uncompromising leader who would ruthlessly pursue the corrupt and bring
them to justice, now has to explain why he let his biggest fish off the
hook.

Here in the bazaar at the heart of Sheik Rashid's constituency, people are
grumpy. "If Nawaz Sharif really plundered the national wealth, why has he
been sent abroad?" asked a butcher, Muhammad Imran, as he hacked apart a
slab of meat.

His customer, Farzara Ashraf, a housewife, chimed in indignantly, "He
should have been punished so he could serve as an example."

The general's decision to let Mr. Sharif go into exile is only part of a
growing disillusionment with his rule, which was initially greeted with an
almost giddy hope that a tough- guy military man could whip the country
into shape.

Mr. Musharraf promised nothing short of Pakistan's moral and economic
rejuvenation when he took power, but he has found it very difficult to
deliver, particularly on people's bread-and-butter hopes. At a time of
political uncertainty, both foreign and domestic investment in the country
have lagged.

And Pakistan cannot afford big social spending programs. It is $36 billion
in debt to foreign lenders. It is weighed down by defense expenditures to
finance its conflict with India. And it collects income taxes from only 1
percent of the people.

When asked about the past year of military rule, most people here at the
bazaar first complained about rising prices for sugar and other basic
commodities. In a society where many families are scraping by on $40 to $50
a month, inflation hurts badly. And they blame the government, though the
rising cost of oil is a major inflationary culprit.

"Whenever I go shopping, everything has gone up in price =97 cooking oil,
soap, milk, sugar, even salt," said Farida Begum as the life of the bazaar
swirled around her.

Her family's hardships have also worsened since the government closed down
a money-losing bus service here in Rawalpindi and laid off her husband, a
conductor. Now, instead of earning $40 a month, he's getting only a $4
pension.

As the military government moves forward with a gamut of stringent policies
that aim to put the country on a sounder fiscal footing =97 many of them
required by the International Monetary Fund =97 more people will blame
General Musharraf for their pain, and his popularity is likely to suffer
further.

In a report released this week, the State Bank of Pakistan predicted that
utility bills, gas prices and tax collections would all rise, squeezing
consumers and shopkeepers alike. At the same time, it noted, the government
will be less able to provide jobs as it sells off public companies to
private buyers.

Already General Musharraf is feeling the discontent of the public and the
press, largely because there is an absence of fear about speaking out
against his government.

The military dictators of earlier eras crushed dissent. But the current
rulers have tolerated scathing press criticism. Perhaps it is because
General Musharraf is more liberal. Or perhaps it is because they fear a
crackdown would upend their cooperative relationships with international
lenders on whom Pakistan depends financially.

In The News on Wednesday, for example, one writer said the decision on Mr.
Sharif's exile had entailed "a loss of honor" to the military government,
while another maintained that the government's willingness to do the deal
reeked of opportunism.

"By compromising with Nawaz Sharif and letting him go free," Rashed Rahman
wrote, "they have driven one more nail themselves into the coffin of
whatever residual credibility they still enjoyed."

Fourteen months into General Musharraf's rule, the military =97 often
described here as Pakistan's last viable, effective institution =97 stands
demystified. Most people still credit the general with good intentions, but
he is often depicted as a bumbler whose government has been too weak to
halt sectarian killings or to stand up to Islamic fundamentalists.

But the general has one big thing going for him =97 the lack of an inspirin=
g
civilian leader to challenge him. Benazir Bhutto, who was Mr. Sharif's main
national rival for power, has been convicted on corruption charges and is
living in London. And now the general has removed Mr. Sharif from Pakistan
=97 and in such a way that Mr. Sharif's character has been further
discredited.

Members of Mr. Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League, say he was a man
accustomed to a life of luxury and power who apparently could not tolerate
the rigors of prison life. He had always had it easy. He rose to positions
of power in the 1980's with the backing of the military. He and his family
amassed fabulous wealth during his time in office.

He loved being chauffeured in a black Mercedes. He had a taste for
expensive watches and fancy shoes. Before the coup, he was close to moving
into a 22-room mansion with stuffed lions and rococo furniture.

"I know him," Mr. Rashid said. "He can't sleep alone without a servant to
look after him. He was a prince born to govern."

Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company

_____

#2.

The Hindustan Times
17 December 2000
Op-Ed.

Whose rights do we speak of anyway?

by Sanjoy Hazarika

Communal killings in the North East by
extremists do not represent popular feelings. During the recent
celebrations of Human Rights Day, the focus was on State violations of
human rights. Indeed, this approach has been appropriate for it is the
State and its various agencies and representatives, in uniform or without
it, which have been the dominant violator of the fundamental rights of
people in this country- to life, liberty, security, freedom from want,
fear and harassment.

The experience of India's North East has been little different. Indeed, it
can be argued that of all the regions of India which have suffered at the
hands of the security forces, it is this tragically beautiful area which
has been hurt the most: first, the Nagas, then the Mizos and more recently
Manipuris (both hill and plains folk) as well as Assam and Tripura. Kashmir
and Punjab came very late onto the stage, more than 30 years after the
first shots were fired in Nagaland seeking independence from India and the
first of the security raids against what the media unthinkingly called
"hostiles". That military campaign over the years has destroyed entire
villages, uprooted communities and embittered generations. Today,
thankfully, there are some changes for the better in Nagaland where a
fragile but important ceasefire has held, despite many ups and downs over
the past three years.

Friends from Punjab and Kashmir complain about human rights violations
these days-or in recent years. Where were you when the people of the Naga
Hills, of the Mizo Hills, of Manipur were being brutalised and terrorised?
You were silent and ignorant, disinterested in something that was
happening over 1,000 kilometers away and which did not affect your daily
lives, your prosperity or your comfortable existences. You were no
different from the rest of India. Well, now that the hatred and violence
are at your doorstep, nay inside your homes, (although conditions have
changed dramatically in Punjab) you are suddenly more concerned about
"human rights violations"!

That these days there are some checks on security forces in the North East
is due in no small measure to the crusading efforts of activist lawyers
and various human rights groups within and without the region. Those who
figure on this roll call of honour include Nandita Haksar, who battled for
the rights of the Nagas in the famous Oinam case of Manipur in the
mid-1980s, when the security forces unleashed a reign of terror on
villagers there; local activist groups such as the Naga Mothers'
Association, the Mera Paibis (women rights groups in the Manipur Valley),
the Naga Peoples' Movement for Human Rights and its various chapters, as
well as MASS in Assam; journalists and groups such as the People's Union
for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the Other Media and the South Asian Human
Rights and Documentation Centre (SAHRDOC). Various human rights
commissions such as that in Manipur and the National Human Rights
Commission as well as different state high courts and the Supreme Court
have also played significant roles.

Yet, when individual and community rights were devastated by security
forces from the 1950s until the late 1970s, there were virtually no human
rights groups worth the name to speak out. It was left to Amnesty
International to do some documentation, however flawed, of those difficult
and bloody days. Thus, the organised human rights campaign in India remains
relatively young, still on the learning curve, although it has done
commendable work already.

Indeed, anti-rights legislation still exist, such as the Armed Forces
Special Powers Act which authorise security personnel to search and arrest
without warrants and even shoot to kill without being questioned. But
understanding of rights and the ability to challenge those who violate
these provisions are now the weapons of the campaigners.

These days, human rights campaigners in the North East must look honestly
and fearlessly at a threat which has existed for some time but only in
recent years has come violently into the open.

Over the years, extortion (which some groups in Nagaland refer to as "tax
collections"), ethnic killings, political slayings, kidnappings for ransom
and now cold-blooded massacres have become identified with different
militant factions in the region. Those who claim to fight and speak "on
behalf of the people"-be they insurgents, militants, political parties or
student activists and human rights campaigners- must check what the people
have to say about them.

Such groups have, too often, turned anti-people. How else would you
describe Naga militants who walk into the home of a car dealer and demand
vehicles for their use, without paying a paisa? How would you define
surrendered militants who grab building contracts at the expense of others
because they have weapons and political clout? We are not speaking here of
the reasons why some groups turned against India. Those are historic
issues and need much explanation and understanding. We are asking here why
they are terrorising the people of the very region, their own people.

The latest in the series of human rights violations has been the slaughter
of Hindi speakers in western and upper Assam. Sunpura, which is the site
of the major killings, is a backward region without electricity, drinking
water, health facilities, good schools or decent roads. I was part of a
small television team filming the Brahmaputra river when we visited it a
year ago. There are many old Marwari families who have settled over a
century ago and live in this neighbourhood under difficult conditions.

Such murders are aimed at triggering reprisals in other parts of the
country, showing up the state government's 'failure' in the run up to
assembly elections next year, perhaps provoking President's Rule and
emphasising that the United Liberation Force of Asom, with its camps in
Bhutan and top leaders in Bangladesh, remains a force capable of vicious
strikes. The pattern of killings is similar to those in the Punjab of the
1980s and in Kashmir of the 1990s and most recently in Chittisingpora, when
specific communities were targeted. Those were ascribed to the Inter
Services' Intelligence agency of Pakistan. One does not know if this agency
does have a role in the latest killings in Assam, but the pattern is too
similar for comfort.

The latest killings must be unequivocally condemned by all, especially
human rights campaigners, without taking recourse to ifs and buts. Human
rights can only have meaning when-spanning political differences-civil
society opposes those who commit offences against human life, whether they
are part of the State apparatus or those opposed to the State.

(Sanjoy Hazarika is with the Centre for
Policy Research)
_____

#3.

tehelka.com

RSS sells the Hindu rashtra

The RSS is busy campaigning on politics, the supremacy of Hindu culture,
the family and personal life with a warning on the pitfalls of Western
culture. Prerna takes a look at the Sangh's neo-catechism

Lucknow, December 17

You will not ever become a crorepati or get through your competitive
examinations if you say that Vasco Da Gama discovered India or Columbus
discovered America. But hold on, although this sounds totally unrelated.
You should also do away with cutting of cakes on birthdays and shun
honeymoons, especially if you are a Hindu and that too a proud one.

These are some of the messages the world's "largest non-government
organization", as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) claims itself to
be, is busy campaigning by selling the concept of the Hindu rashtra
(nation) door to door. In its 75th year of inception, groups of zealous
volunteers are reaching out special target groups and distributing
booklets, leaflets, posters and stickers on a massive scale.

There are six booklets in Hindi that the RSS is distributing focusing on
specific subjects-'Sangh Gatha' (Sangh's history), 'The role of the Sangh
in the National Movement', 'Hindu Culture and Environment', 'Hamein Hindu
Hone par garv hain' (We are proud of being Hindus), 'Adarsh Hindu Ghar'
(Ideal Hindu Home) and 'Nari Jagaran Ewam Sangh' (Women's Upliftment and
the Sangh), were being distributed by the volunteers' teams all over the
state in which professionals, retired bureaucrats and former defence
personnel were also involved. "We were going to cover the entire state,"
Amar Singh, the person in charge of the vigorous campaign in Lucknow said.

The concern of the Sangh booklets is that life is increasingly getting
influenced by Western culture. In the last 100 years the Indian family
system has suffered massively In chapter four of the booklet 'We are
proud of being Hindus', under the sub-heading Hindu vichar kee shresthta
(Greatness of Hindu Views) a reader is informed that Hindus lived in
America much before the discovery of the continent by Christopher Columbus.
It says that there were temples there which are solid evidence of Indian
art. This makes it amply clear that Hindus were present there before
Columbus, the booklet says. About the discovery of India by Vasco Da Gama,
it says that his ship had been pulled by bigger Indian ships from Africa to
the south coast of India.

Also that what has been propounded in the well-known Pythagoras theorem
finds its mention in the Shilpasutra much before the Greek mathematician's
birth. Similarly, Aryabhatta and Bhaskaracharya were in the know of the law
of gravitation much before Issac Newton came to this world. The concept of
shunya (zero) and the decimal system were formularised by Indians and
similarly the digital sense of "zero" and " one" which is being used in
computers-called the binary system-have been mentioned in the Puranas
thousand of years ago.

"These are only some of the examples and if one tries to prepare a list
then it will be endless," the booklet claims. "If our forefathers could do
so much, then in the present times we could do better. Let us be
confident," it adds. The dictum on shunning cakes on birthdays is
mentioned in the "Ideal Hindu Home". "Instead of cakes and blowing off
candles on birthdays, we should celebrate the day by going to temple on the
day and also lighting lamps in the Hindu style," the Sangh booklet advises.
It says that the family should involve itself in prayer together in the
evening and should have food together at least once a day. Marriages
should be performed in austerity and ostentation should be avoided.

The concern of the Sangh booklets is that life is increasingly getting
influenced by Western culture. In the last 100 years the Indian family
system has suffered massively. Because of the strong foundations the system
has survived foreign attacks but runs the risk of being nullified, if
proper care is not taken. should not worry about the negative influence of
Western culture," it says and adds that Indians should take a lesson from
the collapse of the family system in the West. The custom of honeymoon
just after the marriage was indicative of the couple forgetting the family,
becoming self-seeking and not being responsible towards the parents. It was
because of this reason that many "old age homes" were coming up in the
West. At another level, one of the booklet dealing with questions and
answers discusses in a Goebblesian fashion, the assassination of Mahatma
Gandhi and points out the allegation of the Sangh being involved in it as
incorrect.

It points out that with no prime facie case, the government was forced
lift the ban on the RSS in February 1948. It quotes a letter by Sardar
Patel, the findings of the special court, the three-member bench of the
High Court, and the Kapoor Commission which was set up by Indira Gandhi in
1966. The booklet gives excerpts of the Kapoor Commission to debunk the
allegation of the Sangh's involvement in Gandhi's murder. It says that
although Jawaharlal Nehru knew that the Sangh did not have any hand in the
killing, he clamped a ban on the activities of the RSS. When the ban was
lifted, the Nehru government did not mention any of the charges made
against the organisation. It is unfortunate that all those who swear in the
name of courts keep on repeating false allegations against the RSS despite
clear-cut verdicts by three courts, the booklet points out.

However, in none of the booklets, the name of the writer is given. The
publisher is the Uttar Pradesh unit of the RSS. In one of the booklets
the writer is mentioned as "a swayamsevak" In answer to another question:
what difference does it make if somebody embraces Christianity, he still
remains an Indian, the booklet theorises that every time India has been
divided, it has been because in whichever area the Hindu population gets
reduced, that shows a tendency to get away from the country. In this
context, the RSS propaganda talks of insurgency in the North East where it
claims is "direct and indirect " hand of the church and even secular
Marxists. Insurgency is the result of the massive change of religion by the
people in the last 100-125 years, it says.

"An organised Hindu is synonymous to the unity of India," it says as a
part of the answer to the question. "In India there can be democracy and
freedom to faith. The doctrine of being a welfare state is only possible
till the Hindus are in the majority in the country," the Sangh booklet
declares. It speaks against the political parties which are encashing on
caste sentiments. The backward caste leaders are claiming only they could
lead their people; such people could be spotted right from Delhi to the
bylanes of the country. At another place it says that the Sangh had been
working wholeheartedly against untouchability right from its inception.

"If untouchability is not wrong, nothing is wrong," the book says and
suggests several means of fighting the system. It specifically mentions
that when the foundation stone of the Ram temple was laid in Ayodhya in
1989, the first brick was placed by one Rameshwar Chupal belonging to the
Scheduled Caste.

One of the questions is: can government servants be members of the Sangh?
One would recall the issue that was raked up in the wake of Gujarat
government's verdict on this matter.

The booklet quotes a series of High Court verdicts in different parts of
the country which rules in affirmative. However, in none of the
booklets, the name of the writer is given.

The publisher is the Uttar Pradesh unit of the RSS. In one of the booklets
the writer is mentioned as "a swayamsevak". The leaflet talking of the
campaign says that the Hindu society was fighting for its freedom for
nearly 1,200 years. "To get over India's troubles and make it a proud
nation once again it is imperative that the Hindu society forgets all its
differences and organises itself with nationalistic feelings," the leaflet
says.

copyright =A9 2000 tehelka.com

______

#4.

tehelka.com

Conversion-reconversion: south Gujarat may go up in flames again

For the third successive year, the issue is heating
up in the southern districts and the state
government seems to be playing an active role,
reports a Special Correspondent

Ahmedabad, December 16

For the third successive year, the conversion issue has heated
up in south Gujarat, and not surprisingly, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
government in the state is once again under attack for promoting saffron
groups to counter the influence of various church organisations in this
tribal belt. This time, tension in the region was sparked off by an
incident in Chhindia village in Surat district on November 26, when a
church was ransacked by a group of Hindu activists accompanying a tribal,
Punyabhai Kotwadia, on whose land the church was built. Kotwadia had
embraced Christianity in the early 1990s but he claims to have converted
back to Hinduism and now does not want the church on his land.

Police now face the prospect of conversion and re-conversion camps being
organised in the region in the build-up to Christmas, and a confidential
note circulated at a meeting chaired by the Principal Secretary for Home,
VVR Subba Rao on Friday, instructed the police to be on the look-out for
these potential flare-ups.

Home Minister Haren Pandya said, "December is normally the month of tension
in South Gujarat. We are deploying an adequate number of police force to
take care of the situation."

Police now face the prospect of conversion and re-conversion camps being
organised in the region in the build-up to Christmas Pandya and his
colleagues in the BJP are under fire from the Christian community over the
Chhindia incident and also over Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel's refusal to
meet Bishop Ezra Sargunam, chairman of the Tamil Nadu Minorities
Commission, over the issue.

The bishop had arrived in Chhindia on November 28 in the capacity of
President of the Evangelical Society of India and launched a hunger strike
over the sacrilege at the church. He said, "These micreants who damaged the
church and our religious symbols seem to have the protection of the state
government in Gujarat. This is state-sponsored vandalism."

The BJP government hit back by writing to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M
Karunanidhi asking him to recall the bishop to Chennai. Karunanidhi, in
turn, wrote back requesting Patel to grant the bishop an audience and sort
out the matter. Patel then declined, first saying he had a busy schedule
and then by saying that the matter was pending in court. Pandya, however,
suggested that the government was ready to discuss the "conversion issue"
with the bishop. The bishop left for Mumbai on Thursday after a court
in Vyara prohibited him from entering the rural areas of Surat, but he
announced that he would be back "at an appropriate time". In Gujarat, the
Christian leadership is upset over the snub given to the bishop. Father
Cedric Prakash, convener of the United Christian Forum for Human Rights,
has said, "The anti-minority bias of the BJP government is quite visible."

Police is hopeful that the tension does not lead to large-scale violence,
like it did in 1998 when nearly 30 churches and chapels were burnt in
Dangs district at the southern tip of Gujarat. The Prime Minister, Atal
Behari Vajpayee, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and several other
leaders had visited the region in the aftermath of the violence, which
caused a crisis of credibility for the BJP government.

Last year, the tension was diffused by allowing the Hindu Jagran Manch to
take out a rally that culminated in a big congregation on Christmas eve.

copyright =A9 2000 tehelka.com

______

#5.

South China Morning Post
December 18, 2000
SOUTH ASIA TODAY

Zealot batters a path to new temple

Religious missionary: stone masons are already carving pillars ready for
construction to begin.

IN PERSON by S.N.M. ABDI

Vinay Katiyar's biography, posted on the Web site of the Indian Parliament,
describes him as a "religious missionary". In reality, he is the battering
ram of the extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) in
Ayodhya.

Ayodhya is the nerve centre of Mr Katiyar's sprawling Faizabad
parliamentary constituency in northern India. The 47-year-old MP from the
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a one-point agenda: the
construction of a grand Hindu temple where the Babri Mosque stood until
December 6, 1992, when it was torn down by a mob. According to the Central
Bureau of Investigation, the conspiracy to demolish the mosque was hatched
at Mr Katiyar's home.

"I am very pleased with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. He has spoken
at last. The decks for the construction of a temple at the birthplace of
lord Rama have been cleared and no one can now stop us," Mr Katiyar said.
"As the temple's convenor, it is my responsibility to meet the deadline."

Hindus believe that there was a small temple at the birthplace of the
god-king Rama in Ayodhya until the 16th century, when the Mughal emperor
Babur demolished it and built the Babri Mosque on its ruins. Eight years
ago, the 463-year-old mosque was pulled down. The mosque's destruction in
the presence of the top leadership of the BJP triggered the worst
Hindu-Muslim riots since independence, in which 3,000 people were killed.

The courts then banned any construction at the site. After the Hindu
nationalist BJP came to power, the temple issue remained on the
back-burner.

But last week, Mr Vajpayee said the demolition of the Babri Mosque was an
"expression of national sentiments" and the entire country was in favour of
a Hindu temple at the disputed site. His provocative remarks led to a
parliamentary censure motion, which the ruling coalition defeated.

Despite Mr Vajpayee's go-ahead, the courts are still a major stumbling
block. Any construction at the site before judges have issued a verdict
will raise the hackles of Mr Vajpayee's allies, who depend on Muslim votes.
But Mr Katiyar, a self-proclaimed Hindu fanatic, is resolute.

To avoid prosecution for violating court orders, the temple is being
virtually constructed off-site piece by piece. "The temple can be assembled
almost overnight at the demolished site as soon as religious leaders give
the green signal," Mr Katiyar said.

______

#6.

South China Morning Post
December 18, 2000
SOUTH ASIA TODAY

Changes to constitution considered

NEPAL by DHRUBA ADHIKARY in Kathmandu

For the first time, consideration is being given to amending Nepal's
decade-old democratic constitution. But experts are warning political
leaders against piecemeal changes they say could result in chaos.

"Of course, the constitution is a dynamic document, but haphazard attempts
to amend it without proper study are bound to draw a backlash," said former
chief justice Bishwanath Upadhyay, who headed the panel that drafted the
statute in 1990.

Mr Upadhyay specifically criticised the leaders of the Unified Marxist
Leninist (UML) party, the main group in the leftist-dominated opposition.
Its key demand is a provision to have an all-party interim government take
charge when a general election is called. A coalition government, with
participation by the UML among others, oversaw last year's election, but
the fairness of some of its decisions was questioned.

"What is crucial now is the unflinching commitment of the opposition to
the democratic process itself," said constitutional lawyer Badri Bahadur
Karki. He said seeking an amendment to allow interim governments was an
ill-timed initiative because it indirectly endorsed the view of Maoist
insurgents that the constitution could not meet people's aspirations.

Smaller political parties and activist groups have their own proposals.
The Goodwill Party, a pro-Indian group, wants the removal of a restrictive
clause on citizenship so that more than four million Indian residents can
become Nepali citizens. Minority religious groups appear keen to change
Nepal's Hindu status to a secular one like India, while monarchists want to
expand King Birendra's power base.

Copyright =A92000. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd.

______

#7.

Five new exhibitions open at Chobi Mela

Yesterday, we celebrated the opening of five new exhibitions from
Bangladesh, France, India, Nepal and UK, in different galleries in
Dhaka, as part of the festival of photography, Chobi Mela. Sadly,
that was also the day we learnt that one of the girls photographed by
Saibal Das for his show Circus Women, was killed by a tiger. A
poignant reminder of the reality behind some of these images.

Dec 17 - 23, 2000, Opening- 3:30PM, Exhibition: Saibal Das - India. -
Circus Women, Gallery: Russian Cultural Centre (House 510, Road 7,
Dhanmondi) 09:00-16:00 hours everyday

For them it is a tight-rope walk, in a fine balance between
life and death. Brilliant lights, beaming from every corner around
the arena, reflecting on the dazzling skin-huggers, flash before our
eyes. Their mesmerizing feats gradually build up tension in the
thrilled audience. Their supple bodies float, swirl and swing around
in the air with the music reaching to the climax, and then applauds
adore them. They bow, not so much to receive the praises from the
watchers, but unto the Almighty, for having successfully completed
yet another nerve-wrecking performance. They are the circus girls.

But sweet honour jilts them on some fatal day when a single
move of indiscretion, a momentary lack of synchronization leads to a
crash. To death or disability. What drives them to such risks is the
greater fear of hunger. My work tracks these nomads right from their
rigorous training days to the death-bed where they wait for a final
rest =96 unsung.

Dec 17 - 23, 2000, Opening- 3:30PM, Exhibition: Nepal by Nepalis,
Gallery: Shilparag (House 15, Road 16, Dhanmondi) 10:00-16:00 hours
everyday

It was only a decade ago when one would have made the automatic
assumption that any photograph of significance of Nepal, would have
been taken by a foreigner. Even today, it is mostly foreign
photographers who appear in the credit lines of images of Nepal in
Western publications, or those of donor funded publications. Nepali
photographers find themselves taking passport photographs for ID
cards and weddings, but little else comes their way. This exhibition
is about the Nepali photographers who are trying to break that grip.
Not only are there romantic and beautiful images of Nepal, but it
also includes the more offbeat pictures, and the ones tourists are
less likely to see. Ranging from the pristine, high quality, large
format Himalayan landscapes of Jagadish Tewari, to the street
photographs by celebrated photojournalist Bikas Rauniar, the
exhibition is a taste of the changing visual scene in Nepal.

Dec 17 - 31, 2000, Opening- 3:30PM, Exhibition: John Kippin - UK - My
Work , Gallery: Gallery Chitrak (House 21, Road 4, Dhanmondi) 10:00-
20:00 hours everyday

My work is concerned with representing the cultural construct that we
call the landscape. Whilst working within a broadly familiar genre
and tradition my work lends particular consideration to revealing
social, political and cultural issues and histories. I am interested
in the debates framing representations of the real world and attempt
to define and create developments of the documentary style of
photography. I use colour and scale sometimes together with text and
installation, as appropriate.

The work was made throughout a ten-year period from 1988 - 1998.
Slightly more than half was made in the North of England, but the
exact locations are not the focus of the work. Far more important are
the concerns and issues implicit and occasionally explicit within the
images together with the nature of the experience that the viewer has
when confronting them.

I have chosen a range of concerns to foreground with this work and
feel that it offers a view of Britain and Britishness of relevance
and hopefully of interest to those from other cultures and
communities.

Dec 17- 31, 2000, Opening- 3:30PM, Exhibition: H=E9lo=EFse Blier
=96
France - My Sister Morgane: Why Her And Not Me?, Gallery: Alliance
Francaise (26, Mirpur Road, Opposite to Science Laboratory) 09:00-
12:00, 17:00-20:00 everyday

"My sister Morgane has muscular dystrophy, she can't walk. We
are fraternal twins, we are twelve years old, and I am able-bodied. I
think that if she weren't the way she is, things wouldn't be the same
for me.

Despite her disability, she is a half of me, so I just can't
sit there and do nothing. So when a photographer from the Rapho
Agency, who was doing a story on Morgane, gave me a camera, I started
taking pictures of her in her everyday life. Her illness changes
nothing about the way we love her. I think she's great, yet sometimes
I wonder how she can be so happy all the time. Maybe you have heard
her talk during the Telethon (the most important French live
broadcast programme, 30 hours long, once a year since 1987).

Why her and not me? If I were in her shoes, maybe she would
be happier, and I wouldn't worry as much, but life, or a gene, has
decided otherwise".

Dec 17 - 31, 2000, Opening- 3:30PM, Exhibition: Out of Focus =96
Bangladesh -'Monoronjon Noy, Obhijatra', & Launching Ceremony of
Calendar 2001- Photos In 'Our' Language, Gallery: Shishu Academy
(Opposite to Curzon Hall, Dhaka university Campus) 11:00-19:00 hours

When we go somewhere people usually comment "oh you poor deprived
children." Nonsense! If they grab all the opportunities of
course we'll be deprived. First they take everything for themselves,
then they coo "oh, you poor deprived child." If we are not given a
chance, how can we make it? Our speech, the way we talk is offensive
to the bhadrolok, the upper class. "Oooh, your pronunciation," they
sniff at us, "the way your language wanders all over the place." We
are a problem, they say. But don't the bhadrolok have problems
talking, don't their children have problems saying what they want to
say? But no, I suppose they are perfect, while only we have problems.
No, the only "problem" is that we are outcasts, the children of the
poor.

For further details lookup www.chobimela.org

Shahidul Alam
Drik Picture Library
www.drik.net, www.chobimela.org, www.meghbarta.net

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