[sacw] SACW Dispatch | 28 Aug. 00

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch
28 August 2000
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

#1. Asma Jahangir Interview
#2. Women's Initiative for Peace in South Asia visit to Kashmir (Part 2)
#3. Faux theories fail to explain the Kashmir dispute
#4. Pakistan: NWFP Mullah's threaten British Aid Workers
#5. Canadian postal dept in fix over Prabhakaran stamps
#6. India: Members of Parliament defend SAHMAT exhibit & want envoy recalle=
d

--------------------------------------------

#1.

Tehelka.com
26 August 2000

'SECURITY NOW MEANS COMRADESHIP'

Asma Jehangir

Human rights activist, lawyer and Magsaysay Award winner Asma Jehangir
is in the forefront of an initiative that is trying to sustain dialogue
and communication between India and Pakistan even when formal lines
of communication are off. In Delhi as part of the Women in Security,
Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP) delegation, she speaks to
Rinku Pegu of her concern for peace in South Asia
New Delhi, August 26

How has your perception of the "security concept" changed over the
years?
As the world progresses, perceptions of security have
to change as there is more political enlightenment among people. There
was a time in the '60s when patriotism and loyalty were geographically
bound,
woven around patriarchal notions of valour and honour. Over the years,
through experience, reading, contact with ordinary people, security has
started to mean right to life, food, clean drinking water. And then,
built on them, come other rights like education and livelihood.
And, no matter how much security you give him or
her on the border, that security will not translate into peace, into
individual security for an ordinary person.
I am convinced that security now means comradeship. But South Asia has
been fed on the 'enemy concept' (the thinking that you bond together if
you have a common enemy). This concept is, in fact, a threat
to people's security.
As I travel in South Asia, I get the feeling that people will overpower
political decisions in the next 20 years. While people are talking about
globalisation and
erosion of state sovereignty, I think they are not
looking from the point of view that globalisation really means
empowerment of the people. Globalisation across borders can be more
people-centric if it is
given the right direction .

------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think people are
not looking from the point of view that globalisation really means
empowerment of the people. Globalisation across borders can be more
people-centric if
it is given the
right direction

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let us take the example
of the International Criminal Court that will soon come
into being. The fact that it
will have international jurisdiction in matters
of crime against humanity
has changed the whole concept. What happened in East Pakistan, for
instance, (now Bangladesh) cannot happen with impunity today.
In South Asia, while things have changed,
some basic political realities remain unaltered. Your comments?
When people band together in a bonding, there have to be more positive
aspects to take them forward. And one of the greatest things, despite
the fact that people fight by accentuating religion, race or colour, as
a bonding factor a political ideology is missing in both India and
Pakistan. It will come itself - our work is to push public opinion and
learn from them. Increasingly, when people talk about rights of people,
it just does not mean democracy as a political right, but also
secularism whether one uses the term or not.
In India, secularism has come to be identified
with appeasing the minorities=8A.
Every political ideology can be politicised, whether based on theocracy
or secularism. But when it
comes from the people, the concept of secularism will be different. Not
to pamper minorities but to give them their rights so that the majority
does not overpower the minority. And, at the same time seeing that the
majority does not play politics with the rights of the minorities.
Post-Lahore and post-Kargil, what is your reading of ground realities in
India and Pakistan?
When the Lahore peace process started, many of us
we were quite cynical about it. Hoping that it would go forward but at
the same time feeling "it is going to be too good to be true". I now
feel that unless and until
we actually come to terms with what kind of governments we are going to
have it will be difficult
to talk of actual peace. We need governments working in partnership.
Otherwise there will be different pulls, different vested interests.
Kargil I see as a sad event. It was not transparent in
the first place. Some of us in Pakistan are telling the military regime
that there should be a tribunal on it.
I feel every conflict must end with a Commission so
that people have a right to know about those who
have lost their lives. After all, the soldiers are not a mercenary army,
even their lives are important. And also to look into what we are
spending as a nation
for these hostilities.
Equally unfortunate is the reaction from the Indian side. We come here
and hear betrayal, betrayal and betrayal. It makes me snigger. There has
always been betrayal between the two of us. I mean, why has the Kargil
incident been taken out of proportion, when we have
put so much behind us why can we not put Kargil? If we cannot put Kargil
behind us, let us not put anything behind us. It cannot be made to stand
out.
Over the years, I have witnessed much hardening of feelings in India. It
is disapointing because when people you looked up to begin not to make
sense, that is the time you wonder where you start from.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Some of us in
Pakistan are telling the military regime that there should be
a tribunal on Kargil.
I feel every conflict must end with a Commission so
that people have a right to know about those who have
lost their lives"

------------------------------------------------------------------------
What about the recent peace overtures by the
Hizb ul Mujahideen?
It is time we have peace.
Every person in the subcontinent who looks forward to living wants the
bloodshed to stop. But, apart from the Mujahideen, other people too
should enter the peace process.
Other people would mean the Pakistan government?
Not just Pakistan, other militant groups too. There are hundreds of
groups. But, having said that, I want to state that both governments
have played politics. People have parroted what their respective
governments have said, which is very sad. The cross border militancy has
aggravated the situation, yes. But it was certainly not the militants
that rigged elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Where did it all start with?
Some sort of responsibility and blame has to be accepted from the Indian
side which I do not see at present. Because the minute you talk about
Kashmir you start on cross-border terrorism. You have given militants
breeding ground and we condemn it.
What is the human rights situation in Pakistan now. You have another
military regime in
place again=8A.
It has only changed for the worse as we do not have institutions
anymore. Political institutions all banned, political activity is all
banned. We have a judiciary
but not the Parliament.
What about Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)?
It has a government if you can call it such. It is underdeveloped like
the rest of Pakistan. One thing about it is that it has a higher
literacy rate than us. Infrastructure is lacking as are other amenities.
All
this has to change. But it can happen only with
the settlement of the whole Kashmir issue.
When do you see democracy returning
in Pakistan?
Very soon. For the first time, people are realising
the worth of even a lame democracy as was the case with Nawaz Sharif. It
is still better than dictatorship. People still meet somehow although
the government
is bent on stopping all political mobilisation.

______

#2.

Tehelka.com
26 August 2000

THE VALLEY OF SORROW AND TEARS

Illustration by :Uzma

In the second part of the report, Syeda Sayidain Hameed narrates the
heartrending accounts of mothers who lost daughters and sons in Srinagar,
the opinions of leaders across the political spectrum,
and the fears of ordinary people in towns and villages

In Jammu, we had been told that there was a total strike at Srinagar
which had been called by the Dukhtaran-e-Millat (Women's Wing of the
Jama'at) against custodial killings of the Kashmiris. Some friends in
Jammu warned us and asked us to delay our departure. But we went,
regardless. We thought of the song that Nirmalaji had taught us on the
Lahore bus.
It was written by a poet from Sind Hunduraj Dukhayal,
a companion of Vinobaji. At that time padyatris of Vinoba's `army' used
to sing this song as they walked from village to village:
Shanti ke sipahi chale, kranti ke sipahi chale
Leke khairkhwahi chale rokne tabahi chale
Shanti ke sipahi chale chale!
Vair bhav torne dil ko dil sey jorne
Kaam ko sanwarney jaan apni vaarney
Leke khairkhwahi chale, rokne tabahi chale
As the words echoed in our minds, we realised that
the cynics and hawks would snigger at us for thinking along idealistic
lines instead of being `hard nosed' about the issue.
Our flight landed on a dusty afternoon. The sun was harsh over the
valley. At the airport friends who had braved the bandh to give us a
warm welcome received
us. We met our hosts, members of the Kul Hind Tamiri Ma'ashra (Akhil
Bharat Rachnatmak Samaj), men and women dedicated to building a
constructive and just society in Kashmir.
The first sight of Dal is something I have always looked
at with bated breath. This time was no different as we approached it
from the Sher-i-Kashmir Conference Centre. The expanse of water was at
once tranquil and serene, with rows of Deodars standing like so many
upraised fingers. Our `entry point' was Hotel Shah Abbas from which the
shikara carried us, gliding on the
body of water to our houseboat,`Moon Valley' which was on the far side
of the Lake. The first evening was spent sitting on the deck, revelling
in the sight of the shimmering water on which the multi-coloured lights
of the houseboats ran streaks of silver, gold and red.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some people
regretted the fact
that the civil society had been weakened
in the valley. They
felt that civil society institutions had
been systematically undermined

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning we were to attend the seminar organised by Kashmir
Welfare Centre, a voluntary body, on the `Role of NGO's in the present
scenario.' We spoke about the WIPSA initiative in Pakistan and our
desire to meet and listen to the people of Kashmir. The people who spoke
at the meeting included Dr. Hameeda, from
Kashmir University, G.N.Hagroo, advocate, and Ghulam Nabi Gauhar, former
District and Sessions Judge, and several others. Some people regretted
the fact that the civil society had been weakened in the valley. They
felt that civil society institutions had been systematically undermined.
Since peoples' initiatives have been replaced by the state, people have
become mere consumers. They said that the Government had not spoken the
truth about Kashmir to the people.
There was a meticulous account by a speaker on the historical facts
surrounding the accession of Kashmir.
He said that Kashmiris should be allowed to place their case in an
International court of Justice. Both India and Pakistan have contributed
to the mess in Kashmir. He asked our delegation to visit the graveyards
which have sprung up everywhere in the valley. "Kashmir, which was the
land of Rishis and saints,has now become a land of graves. For example
from the First Bridge to Yusmarg there are sixteen shrines of Saints but
56 Qabristans." Interventions from the floor were also replete with
stories of atrocities on the Kashmiri people by the security forces and
the militants.

Having heard all of the above, we asked to be taken to the homes of some
of the recent victims of violence.
We wanted to condole with the families plus offer our help and support.
The first home we visited was that of Aijaz, the nineteen-year-old boy
who had been killed in custody the previous week. Traversing narrow
gullies, which were, choked with drains and garbage heaps, we reached
the house. From the gate onwards, the place was filled with wailing
women. Aijaz was the only son; there is one younger daughter. The mother
was inconsolable.
Aijaz's house was packed with women, there was not an inch of space.
Everyone wanted to vent their anger and sorrow. Above the din we could
barely hear the voice of the people who were translating for us from
Kashmiri. Suddenly one woman proclaimed the Narai-Takbir and a chorus
was raised: the calls to Allah resounded through the room as we left. At
the neck of the gali, we saw young boys, full of anger. They were
neighbours and friends of Aijaz, anywhere between 8 to 17 years of age.
Nearby was the house of Rafiq Ahmed Baqal. A young man in his thirties,
Rafiq along with a few friends, had gone to a wedding near Srinagar.
That night he was returning with four friends at 10pm when they were
stopped at the Amirakadal Bridge. The security officer questioned the
four and let them go, but retained Rafiq who he said would be released
after a few questions. A few hours later Rafiq's body was thrown on the
road. `Killed in encounter' was the official version.
Sitting inside the room was a woman with her small children, one little
four-year-old girl and year-old twin boys. The woman did not move or
blink. She sat there pale and inert while the family and friends poured
out their heart. There was suspicion of personal grudge; young men,
friends of Rafiq, were full of rage. `Why have you come?' someone asked.
`What will you do, you too will go back and forget.' We looked at the
woman's pale stone face and understood the hopelessness underlying the
statement.
It is against the law of the land
to touch a woman or girl child
between sunset and sunrise

------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party office, we met Shabbir
Shah who related more of the suffering of his people. On his party's
brochure were written these lines of the famous Kashmiri poet, Pandit
Brij Narain Chakbast:
Chappa chappa hai mere Kashmir ka mehmaan nawaz Raaste ke paththaron ne
bhi diya paani mujhe'
(Every bit of my Kashmir is hospitality incarnate Even the stones on the
road offered me water to drink)
Shabbir Shah challenged us to see for ourselves the case of a
15-year-old girl child who had been picked up in the middle of the night
by the SOG. Both Mohiniji
and I having had such a long association with the National Commission
for Women could not believe that
a girl child had been arrested in the night. It is against the law of
the land to touch a woman or girl child between sunset and sunrise.
When we expressed our amazement, the people in Shabbir Shah's party
office alleged that this was normal routine for Kashmiri women and girls
(as is happening in the rest of India). Such was the extent of our
disbelief and horror at the fate of the child that we went back into the
city to see for ourselves.
That night at the dinner hosted by the Minister of State for Forests and
Environment we raised the particular case of arrest of a girl child at
night. Our query found
no answers. However, we privately learnt from some
of the local guests that there was nothing unusual in
this case.
The next day began with a meeting with the leader of the All Party
Hurriyat Conference (APHC), Syed Ali Shah Geelani, at his home. Geelani
Sahib advised us to go to the rural areas if we wished to see for
ourselves the atrocities inflicted on the innocents. He said that
Kashmiris were willing to talk to the Government without any
preconditions. We asked the hypothetical question whether or not they
could sustain themselves
as an independent nation. His answer was that Azadi
is such a huge blessing that everything it entails
is achievable.
In sharp contrast to this, there were many people who felt that azadi
was not viable. Kashmir would end up as just a buffer zone. The
government could, if willing, work out a solution taking into account
the aspirations of the people and the uniqueness of Kashmiriyat.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told us that in 1993 Hurriyat was formed to act as a
forum for reflecting the aspirations of Kashmiris. But it was not taken
in the right spirit. The two present alternatives are:
Either implement the UN resolutions.
Or look for solution through dialogue.
He said that Hurriyat was for the return of displaced Kashmiri Pandits.
But the people are completely disillusioned with both governments. The
Hurriyat office has 9,300 registered families, who have lost members and
not received compensation because of the suspicion that they may have
harboured militants at some point in time. The SOG consisting of
renegade elements are committing cold-blooded murder.
"When we hear the Minister of Information and Broadcasting announcing
that no action will be taken against the forces because `it affects
their morale,' we wonder what about the killing of innocent villagers as
fallout of Chatthisinghpoura." Stating that militants are trained in
POK, he said, if the government was sincere, Hurriyat should be given
permission to go to the other side and talk to the people there. We are
prepared to find a solution through dialogue.
Abdul Ghani Lone, veteran politician, enumerated the killings, the
arrests and the custodial deaths. Mujahideen have their base in Azad
Kashmir but this movement started here in 1988; youth were forced to
take up the gun because of the inappropriate policy of the government.
He reminded us that it was the peoples' money that was supporting the
army. It is for the people to reject this carnage.
Yaseen Malik contended that women could play a more effective role in
the peace process. But it is blind nationalism that guides India in the
matter of Kashmir. They never admit that they have witnessed the zulm of
the state. The gang-rape of women at Karampora in the Nineties was
investigated by a special team of the Press Council and declared to be
more imagination than reality; but it is a fact that no one wants to
marry
girls from that village.
Our meetings with Hurriyat leaders were balanced with a session with the
Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, and another few moments with Abdul
Ahad Wakul, the Speaker of the State Assembly and Minister of State for
Forests and Environment Bashir Ahmed Negroo.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr Abdullah said: "The militants want Kashmir
to be peopled only by Muslims. We want a secular state as part
of a secular India.
The Pandits should
come back. I am glad
that the Sikhs have not left despite provocation

------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Chief Minister said
that unless Pakistan
comes to the realisation that they cannot have Kashmir and that there
cannot be plebiscite, there could be no peace. The
root cause for the present situation, according to him, is the proxy war
started
by Pakistan.
While agreeing that human rights violations must `be reduced, he
questioned why the people did not come to the rescue of the Kashmiri
Pandits? He questioned the pragmatic sense behind the 'Tehrik of Azadi'
by asserting that the state cannot generate more than Rs 800 crores
while it needs Rs 5000 crores for paying its employees, not including
the para-military and military.
He challenged the Hurriyat by asking them how do they sustain
themselves. When asked about the rampant corruption, he asked who is not
corrupt. He said that this was a battle for survival, and the future was
in the hands of Allah. But the Kashmiris had no one to blame but
themselves for the present situation. When they had God's bounty and the
land was yielding bountiful harvests they did not appreciate Allah's
blessings.
"What can you believe" he threw back at us when we questioned him about
the alleged atrocities of his own Special Task Force. What about Rafiq
Baqal? we wanted to know. He claimed that he had given everything to the
family -- compensation, promise of free education for his children and
employment for
his widow.
Some of these claims were refuted point blank later by lawyers and human
rights activists but we have not yet been able to verify the facts. Dr.
Abdullah reiterated that the militants target government employees and
National Conference members. "Who is training these militants and who is
giving them arms? This is a question that should be addressed if peace
is to return to Kashmir."
He told us that his own minister had been killed in
a blast and questioned us whether we had visited his family.
Unfortunately we could not due to lack of time.
Dr Abdullah said: "The militants want Kashmir to be peopled only by
Muslims. We want a secular state
as part of a secular India. The Pandits should come back. I am glad that
the Sikhs have not left despite provocation." Dr Abdullah complained
about the
apathy of the central government towards the
Kashmiris. He stated categorically that J & K is
Atoot ang (integral limb) of India. He welcomed the WIPSA initiative and
felt that such initiatives will bind the people together in friendship.
The speaker of J & K Assembly - Janab Abdul Ahad Wakul -- welcomed the
WIPSA delegation. It was interesting to note that as a close colleague
of Sher-I-Kashmir Sheikh Abdullah, he had fought against the old feudal
order. He quoted Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Interestingly,
Mahatma Gandhi saw a ray of hope in Kashmir in 1947- hope in the
inter-faith amity. "We have to do our utmost to keep that spirit alive.
NGO's should come forward to heal the wounds of the people," he said. Mr
Bashir Ahmed Negroo, Minister for Forests, affirmed the Kashmiri respect
for all faiths and secular traditions. The militants cannot destroy this
very basis, he said.
In between these meetings and before and after, we were able to meet the
people in Srinagar and outside. In Anantnag, we met a large gathering,
collected by an NGO, Friends of Kashmir. Most of the speakers referred
to Kashmir as a Jahannum rather than the popular epithet Jannat that had
been used by poets and writers of yore. The unrest of unemployed youth
was cited as a cause for Kashmir's trauma. Why does one side refer to
Kashmir as atoot ang and the other as shehrug (jugular vein)? No one
bothers to ask, `What about the people?' We also drove to Beerwah, a
tehsil in district Budgam to participate in the Annual Day of the school
run by the Syed Mazharul Haq Society. A special feature of the day was
the performance of a dowryless marriage between Syeda Fareeda and Syed
Farooq to exemplify the simplicity enjoined in Islam.
We spoke to the people on our way, stopping here and there, to gather
opinions. On our way back from Gulmarg, we found slogans on signposts
such as `India is a bouquet, Kashmir a rose in it' In Tangmarg, Kunzar,
Magam and Narbal people were uninterested in the entire cacophony
surrounding autonomy demand. When we asked a few women if they felt
safe, we were told, "What a question to ask? When we get up in the
morning we don't know if we will be alive by evening.!'
Magam and Narbal consist mostly of Shia Muslims. There were signs asking
for harmony between the
Shias and Sunnis. In Tangmarg, we stopped to drink
the 'healing' water' of the Ferozpur Nallah. the chowkidar told us of
the bus full of passengers in which two militants had barged in.
Evidently they shot an army major. In retaliation the bus was burnt down
and all its passengers were killed by the security forces.

(Part - III to follow on August 27)

______

#3.

Time Asia
http://www.cnn.com/ASIANOW/time/asiabuzz/sd/2000/08/24/

SUBCONTINENTAL DRIFT: JUSTIFYING HATE
FAUX THEORIES FAIL TO EXPLAIN THE KASHMIR DISPUTE

By APARISIM GHOSH
August 24, 2000

Web posted at 12:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 12:30 a.m. EDT

A recent e-mail exchange with a friend brought up an old saw about
Indo-Pakistani hostility over Kashmir. Islamabad NEEDS to keep the
dispute alive, my friend argued, because a peaceful Muslim-majority
state within the Indian union would undermine Pakistan's very reason for
existence. If Kashmir can thrive as a part of India, why should there be
a separate country for the subcontinent's Muslims?
=20=09=20
That argument is frequently heard in the corridors of power in New
Delhi, and its corollary is just as popular in Islamabad: that India
NEEDS to hold on to Kashmir just to prove its secular credentials. If a
Muslim-majority state can't thrive as part of India, then what hope for
the country's religious minorities?

These are very convenient theories, and they carry just enough
logic to
make them appear credible. They help rationalize the 50-year-old enmity
between the two countries: after all, if Indians and Pakistanis still
hate each other after all these years, there must be some deep-rooted
philosophical reason.
But the twin theories don't hold up to any serious scrutiny. Pakistan
was created for those Muslims who didn't want to live in a
Hindu-majority country. Nothing more, nothing less. Its existence needs
no further justification. India, similarly, doesn't need the population
of Kashmir to certify its secularism: even leaving out the Kashmiris,
India has more Muslims than Pakistan.
There are other, equally dubious theories about the subcontinental
schism. Two generations of Indians and Pakistanis have been reared on
propaganda that ascribes all manner of ideological roots to the dispute.
The Establishment in Pakistan portrays the Kashmir issue as an Islamic
holy war: Our Muslim brothers are being oppressed by those Indian
Hindus, and we are obliged to give them succor. Why other "brothers" --
those being brutally repressed in China's Xinjiang province, for
instance -- don't deserve similar sympathy and support is never
explained. In India, Hindu extremists claim Kashmir as their own because
it was part of the empire of the mythological Hindu king, Bharata. Like
their Pakistani counterparts, these folks conveniently forget that
Bharata's fabled empire also included Nepal, Burma and much of
Afghanistan.
But if there is no profound philosophical divide at the bottom of their
hostility, why do India and Pakistan battle over Kashmir? As Freud said
of cigars, sometimes hatred is just hatred. The two countries were born
in an atmosphere of antipathy, amid the bloodletting of Partition. More
blood was spilt and venom generated by their three wars. Unscrupulous
politicians (and in Pakistan's case, military leaders) on both sides
have consciously cultivated enmity to harvest votes (or build
legitimacy).
The bottom line is that India and Pakistan don't NEED to battle over
Kashmir. But as long as Delhi and Islamabad believe they do, there will
never be peace in South Asia.

______

#4.

The Sunday Telegraph (UK)
ISSUE 1920 Sunday 27 August 2000

'WE WILL KIDNAP AID WORKERS AND WED THEM'

By Julian West in Peshawar

AID workers in Pakistan's North-West Frontier are being attacked by the
country's growing army of Taliban-style mullahs. One, Maulana Zia ul
Haq, has published a fatwa ordering any "Anglo-Saxon" entering his
territory to be killed.
He has also warned Pakistani women working for a British-funded aid
agency that they will be kidnapped and forcibly married to "keep them at
home, where they belong". The area, known as Malakand, north of Peshawar
on the Afghan border, is scenically beautiful and Pakistan had been
hoping to develop it as a tourist destination.

Maulana Zia ul Haq said: "Infidels have prevented Osama bin Laden from
travelling. Why should they be able to travel here?" Other aid workers
in the district have also been attacked, with the support of the local
administration and the backing of local landlords.

The mullahs, who accuse the workers of "peddling anti-Islamic Western
philosophies such as women's rights", have formed an organisation to
enforce the Taliban's brand of Shariah law. Recently, several
Western-based aid agencies have been forced to leave.

Concerned by the spread of such incidents, Christian Solidarity
Worldwide, a British human rights organisation, has launched an
international campaign warning of growing extremism in Pakistan.
Catherine Field, a CSW spokesman, said: "The initial hope of minority
groups that Gen Pervez Musharraf was going to use his rule to curb the
drift toward Islamic fundamentalism is gradually being eroded."

Elsewhere in the North-west Frontier, mullahs have ordered their
followers to smash televisions, video recorders and cassette players in
shops and restaurants. Cable television operators' offices have been
sealed and television cables and satellite dishes have been torn down.

Last month, private television operators in Peshawar were given a
deadline to close or risk having their cables cut. "The mullahs have
entered into a pact with local landlords and the district
administration," said Maryam Bibi, who runs Khwendo Kor, a Briti
sh-funded teaching organisation, which has been attacked. "The landlords
feel that we're challenging their power structure because we work at a
grassroots level, and the mullahs have their own agenda."

The fatwa against women working for Khwendo Kor, or Women's Home, was
issued earlier this month. Khwendo Kor is funded by the British
Government and some European aid agencies. It provides primary school
education for girls as well as boys in a mountainous area near the
Afghan border.

In his fatwa, the mullah claimed that the teachers, who are all from
villages in the area, were "offering people chickens, honey, goats and
pocket money to convert them to Christianity" and that the women were
"being taken to dens of iniquity like Peshawar and Islamabad, where they
were being offered wine".

Since then, school teachers and schoolgirls have been harassed and
workers from the organisation were prevented from visiting villages by
the local district commissioner because angry mullahs and their
supporters, carrying assault rifles, had blocked the road.

Last week, the mullah, who refuses to talk to foreigners even over the
telephone, was unrepentant. "I stick to my stand," he told a local
journalist. "I've ordered my people to pick up any woman working for a
non-governmental organisation and marry her. They're visiting villages,
meeting our women and teaching them their rights."

Khwendo Kor, which has its headquarters in Dir, a picturesque town on a
route once taken by Alexander the Great, has established 40 village
schools with the help of parents in the past two years and now teaches
1,500 girls. Before 1969, there were no schools in Dir.

The area is deeply fundamentalist, providing large numbers of "jihadis"
or holy warriors to fight in Kashmir and Afghanistan. The roadsides are
spattered with graffiti slogans such as "Go for Jihad, crush India".

Shekila Naz, who works for Khwendo Kor in Dir, said: "This area is the
root of fundamentalism, it even exports it abroad. The mullahs are angry
because they think we're challenging their power, but the communities
support us. Besides, in Islam a woman has to consent to marriage. This
fatwa is against Islam."

The rapid spread of Taliban-type fundamentalism in Pakistan is alarming
the country's more moderate population, which fears that as the economy
worsens extremism will take root.

______

#5.

The Times of India
27 August 2000

CANADIAN POSTAL DEPT IN FIX OVER PRABHAKARAN STAMPS

TORONTO: An order for a large number of personalised postage stamps with
the photograph of Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, has placed Canadian postal
authorities in a fix.

On April 30, postal authorities had launched the "Vanity Stamp" project
whereby individuals could send photographs to be reproduced on postage
stamps. Each "Vanity Stamp" with a postage of 46 cents costs the
individual one dollar.

The officials had obviously not thought that some terrorist
organisations could take advantage of this project. So when an order was
placed for stamps with Prabhakaran's photograph, they were caught
unawares. They could not fulfill the order without offending the
government in Sri Lanka. The LTTE, which is fighting for a separate
homeland for the Tamils in Sri Lanka, has been at war with the Lankan
Army since 1983.

According to a report in the National Post, the order for the stamps has
been put on hold for the time being. Tim McGurrin, spokesman of the
Canada postal department, is quoted as saying that the order was put on
hold last week after officials failed to identify the LTTE leader. Under
the rules, the postal department must have the clearance of the person
photographed. The report adds that the postage stamps were ordered to
augment the LTTE's international propaganda campaign.

Reid Morden, former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence
Agency (CSIS), is reported to have said that such a stamp could create
the impression that Canada is a haven for terrorist activities. "The
perception in most countries, and certainly in Sri Lanka, would be that
because the state prints these things, Canada must support these guys or
have some sympathy for their movement," he said.

Although the identity of the person or organization responsible for
placing the order has not been established as yet, investigations are in
progress. (India Abroad News Service)

______

#6.

Hindustan Times
28 August 2000

SAHMAT ISSUE: REMOVE OUR MAN IN OTTAWA, OPPOSITION MPS TELL JASWANT

Apratim Mukarji

(New Delhi, August 27)
In an unprecedented move, 42 Opposition MPs have demanded immediate
recall of Indian High Commissioner to Canada Rajnikant Varma for his
role in pressurising the Canada-based Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute to
withdraw its support to an exhibition, currently touring the country,
commemorating the 125th birth anniversary of Gandhiji and the 50th year
of India's independence.

They have also urged External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh to
reiterate the instructions to Indian missions abroad "to promote the
image of India as a democratic nation committed to the culture of peace
and tolerance rather than of an authoritarian State intolerant of
dissent and inclined towards a sectarian agenda."

The High Commissioner's action has led to a severance of ties with
Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute by two eminent academics - Professor
Emeritus of Algoma University College, Ontario, Prof. Hassan Gardezi and
Professor Emeritus of Sociology in Simon Fraser University Hari P Sharma
- protesting the "caving-in" by the Institute to the pressure, .

The exhibition titled "Dust on the Road" has been organised by a
Canada-based artists' group called Hoope Curatorial, jointly with the
Delhi-based Sahmat (Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust).

Noting that the exhibition also includes reproductions of posters
published in the Indian media over the last two years recording "the
growth of fundamentalism in India and attacks by hoodlums and fanatics
on artists and their work," the MPs said in a letter to Mr Singh, "These
posters voice the ideals of secularism, social justice and human rights
and in this connection, some of them are critical of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP."

High Commissioner Varma visited the exhibition on June 26 last at
Toronto and called it, according to media reports, "a work of fiction
rooted in jaundiced imagination". The Consul General in Toronto C M
Bhandari sought to justify the High Commission's communication to the
Shastri Institute to withdraw its association with the exhibition by
saying (again, as reported by the media), "It is a sort of political
propaganda against the BJP and other organisations."

The MPs also said High Commissioner Varma had also pressurised the
Shastri Institute to withdraw its support to a conference scheduled to
take place earlier this month at the University of Waterloo. The
conference was titled "Accommodating Diversity"; High Commissioner Varma
objected to two of the four subject areas of the conference - human
rights and governance. The conference, in which 9 Indian and 14 Canadian
scholars were to take part, was to have been followed by another
conference in Delhi next year.

The MPs said in their letter, "It is clear High Commissioner Varma,
moved by extraneous considerations, has interfered with the decisions of
an autonomous academic body such as the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute.
We demand he be recalled and an explanation sought from him."

______________________________
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