[sacw] SACW Dispatch #2 | 23-24 Oct. 00 [Pakistan / Bangladesh / Nepal]

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch #2. [Pakistan / Bangladesh / Nepal]
23-24 October 2000
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

____________________________

#1. Pakistan Post-Coup Human Rights Abuses
#2. Pakistan: Intolerable intolerance
#3. Pakistan: Harkat chief for military training at Madaris
#4. On Ruling Elite in Pakistan
#5. Letter to Gen. Musharraf by Pakistanis for Peace and Alternative Development
#6. Bangladesh: Vested Property Handover Act 2000 finalised
#7. Nepal: In bid to save lives, death becomes data
#8. South Asia: Book with Faiz Ahmad Faiz's work reissued

____________________________

#1.

H-ASIA
October 23, 2000

PAKISTAN POST-COUP HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

From: "Yvette C. Rosser" <y.r.rani@m...>

Thanks to The Asian Studies WWW Monitor for the very useful link on the
Human Rights situation in Musharraf's Pakistan. A critical point made
on that web site is that "curbs on political activity" since the
October coup have opened up the space for "religious parties-whose
authorities and institutions General Musharraf has thus far largely
refrained from challenging." Not only is Musharraf powerless to
challenge the Mullahs, but he knows they could bring his government
down.

Last Sunday, October 15, 60 Minutes ran a segment about Pakistan
titled, "America's Worst Nightmare." Samiul Haq and other
fundamentalist Islamic clerics who were interviewed by Steve Kroft
scoffed at the power of the government to place any controls on their
Jihad activities. The men behind the militant Madrassahs could shut
the government down before the government could shut them down. And
Musharraf knows it.

Incidentally, 60 Minutes employed the same annoying misuse of the image
of a mosque filled with the faithful while the narrator talks about
terrorism and fundamentalists. Once again we are shown film footage of
ordinary Muslims, young and old men, bowing, kneeling, praying at the
mosque, labeled radicals. This preposterous misuse of images of men at
prayer to represent Islamic extremists is repeated again and again in
the Western media. 60 Minutes used the same assumptive and
stereotypical visual device in this coverage of Pakistan's Islamic
militants, thereby labeling the ordinary believing public as militants.
The media would implicate all Pakistani Muslims as suspected terrorists
by convenient images fed to a gullible American public. Most young men
in Pakistan would rather marry an educated woman and get a good job in
the Info-Tech industry than join the jihad to fight the infidels. They
would rather play a game of neighborhood cricket on the weekend than
practice using a submachine gun and plot suicide missions into Kashmir.
The average Pakistani is not an Islamic fundamentalist.

Regardless of the propaganda laden images designating ordinary people
in Pakistan as possible terrorists, there are far more Pakistanis who
fear the power of the Mullahs and the potential of societal coercion
that they represent. (There are also lots of Mullah jokes.) The vast
majority of middle class Pakistanis with whom I have talked during the
last few years that I have been doing research in Pakistan dream of a
progressive social system, a prosperous economy, democratic
institutions, a safe future for their children, daughters and sons.
They want peace with India. They are secular and sophisticated. They
are sick of giving up everything-the economic development of their
country, their educational system, the development of civic
society--sacrificing everything for the Jihad in Kashmir. I have been
told, time and again, "Fifty years is long enough." They would like to
see the LOC made the international boarder so they can get on with the
business of nation-building. They are frustrated at every turn by the
growing power of the fundamentalist factions. And they fear them.
They truly fear them.

Yet there is no guessing how the fundamentalists have gained so much
power and exercise such debilitating coercive psychological influence
on the society. For years all the symbols and narratives of the nation
have been pushed along the religious fundamentalist path by the various
powers that have ruled Pakistan. The history textbooks in particular
have been a site for manufacturing a state of siege mentality which
creates a culture of mistrust and fear. Fear has been manufactured to
counter both external threats coming from either India or the hegemonic
decadent West and internal threats from provincial ethnic groups that
are described as a threat to the Pakistani nation and to Islam itself.
Non-Muslim cultural influences are often blamed for regional
allegiances, such as in Dr. Mohammed Sarwar's <italic>Pakistani
Studies</italic> textbook, which states,

"At present a particular segment, in the guise of <italic>modernization
and progressive activity</italic>, has taken the unholy task of
damaging our cultural heritage. Certain elements aim at the
<italic>promotion of cultures with the intention to enhance regionalism
and provincialism and thereby damage national integration</italic>."
(emphasis mine)

Here progressive forces such as NGOs and regional cultural affinities
are deemed anti-Pakistani and thereby inherently anti-Islamic. The
textbook continues, "It is in the interest of national solidarity that
such aspects of culture should be promoted as reflect affinity among
the people of the provinces." This type of discourse would deny the
impetus and urges of the cultural expressions of the Sindhis, the
Pathans and the Balouchis. Instead of valuing them as part of the
whole, these regional cultural tendencies are seen as a threat to the
nation, and Islam is employed in discourse to ameliorate and hopefully,
eventually erase, these dangerous ethnic differences.

In this particular version of Pakistani history, which is the official
version, General Zia is portrayed as someone who, "took concrete steps
in the direction of Islamization." He is often seen as pious and
perhaps stitching caps alongside Aurangzeb. Though Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
is inevitably criticized in the textbooks, Zia escapes criticism though
he was the most cruel and autocratic of the military rulers who usurped
the political process in Pakistan. Nonetheless Zia is described as a
savior who ushered in the era of Islamization. Each time that martial
law was declared in Pakistan, and the constitution aborted, placed in
abeyance, or otherwise raped, the textbook by Dr. Sarwar describes it
as an inevitable action stimulated by the rise of unIslamic forces.
For example,

"The political leadership did not come up to the expectations and
lacked commitment to Islamic objectives. Moreover, the civil service
had not undergone socialization process commensurate with Islamic
teachings. Bureaucratic elite had Western orientation with secular
approach to all national issues. [. . . ] the result was political
instability and chaos paving the way for the intervention of military
and the imposition of Martial Law."

No wonder Musharraf's military intervention into politics met little
resistance. Interestingly, in this discussion, Ayub Khan is accused of
imposing unIslamic laws, especially family laws to protect women. The
author, Dr. Sarwar points out that it was Ayub's secular outlook which
ultimately brought about his decline. About General Zia, on the other
hand, the textbook states that

"During the period under Zia's regime, social life developed a leaning
towards simplicity. Due respect and reverence to religious people was
accorded. The government patronized the religious institutions and
liberally donated funds."

This Pakistan Studies textbook, and many like it, claim that there is
a "network of conspiracies and intrigues" which are threatening the
"Muslim world in the guise of elimination of militancy and
fundamentalism." In this treatment Pakistan singele-handedly takes
credit for the fall of the Soviet Union and lays claim to have created
a situation in the modern world where Islamic revolutions can flourish
and "the vacuum left by the fall of the USSR will be filled by the
world of Islam." This textbook continues, "The Western world has full
perception of this phenomena, [which] accounts for the development of
reactionary trends in that civilization." Concluding this section
sub-titled Global Changes, the author seems to be getting ready for
Samuel Huntington's <italic>Clash of Civilizations</italic> when he
writes,

"The Muslim world has full capabilities to face the Western challenges
provided Muslims are equipped with self-awareness and channelize their
collective efforts for the well being of the Muslim Ummah. All
evidences substantiate Muslim optimism indicating that the next century
will glorify Islamic revolution with Pakistan performing a pivotal
role." (page 146)

"Pakistan Studies" textbooks are full of inherent contradictions.
On one page the book brags about the modern banking
system, and on teh next page complains that riba (interest) is
unIslamic. There is also a certain amount of self-loathing written
into the "Pakistan Studies" textbooks, and the politicians are
depicted as inept and corrupt and the industrialists are
described as pursuing "personal benefit even at the cost of
national interest." Bouncing between the poles of conspiracy theory
and threat from within, the textbooks portray Pakistan as a victim of
Western ideological hegemony, and threatened by the perpetual
Machiavellian intentions of India's military and espionage machine,
together with the internal failure of its politicians to effectively
govern the country coupled with the fact that the economy is in the
hands of a totally corrupt class of elite business interests who have
only enriched themselves at the cost of the development of the nation.
All of these failures and conspiracies could, according to the rhetoric
in the textbooks, be solved by the application of more strictly Islamic
practices.

In the last few years, though I have spoken to several well placed
individuals who told me that they would welcome a Taliban type
government in Pakistan, this is certainly not a majority opinion among
intellectuals in the country. However, there are large segments of
society, especially among the poor and uneducated, who think along this
line. Perhaps the choice of this alternative Taliban vision for
Pakistan is a result of feelings of helplessness, between the
conspiracies and corruption, they see no alternative.

The scholars and intellectuals whom I have met in Pakistan, the very
people who could help Pakistan the most and whose voices should be
heard and heeded are the very same people who, because of their
political perspectives and social critiques, are often harassed by the
authorities and/or the Mullahs, denied jobs and otherwise discriminated
against by the establishment. Even the democratically elected
governments have made it difficult for intellectuals with alternative
viewpoints to do research and even to travel abroad, not to mention
what happened to selected journalists during various political tenures.
Surrounded by a completely corrupt system, which they feel powerless to
change, yet endowed with self respect and moral conscientiousness, many
of these caring and intellectually brilliant individuals lament
privately about their hopelessness and depression regarding the
condition of their nation.

When most of the intellectuals whom I interviewed told me that they
were depressed, despondent about the future prospects of their nation,
I decided to question a psychiatrist about these shared expressions of
depression. Dr. Inayat, a psychiatrist from the Civil Hospital in
Karachi pointed out that the nation-wide depression was a tangible
reality and could be quantified by the huge increase in the number of
suicides in Pakistan in the last few years. He said that there are "20
to 30 suicides per day in Pakistan which occur primarily among the
young between the ages of fifteen and thirty, mostly upper-class
urbanized females and newly educated rural or newly urbanized lower
middle class males". He said that the vast majority of them are not
reported as suicides. Dr. Inayat explained that most of these suicides
are the result of the loss of hope for the future. He also pointed out
during our conversation in the summer of 1999, that the dramatic rise
in clinical depression which he has observed even among citizens with
ample economic opportunities can be partly attributed to the fact that
even though democracy had been practiced for over ten years, there has
been a decline in the development of civil society, a death of
collective vision, of loss of enthusiasm to change the system from
within, a certain resignation. The coup of October 12, 1999, only
amplified the situation. When I saw Dr. Inayat again this past Spring,
he told horror stories about several boys who had been brought in from
Madrassahs in a state of catatonic shock, having been psychologically
abused and sodomized. (Please note that in this week's [Oct.13] The
Friday Times there is an article about the rash of suicides in
Pakistan, see: www.thefridaytimes.com)

My friends in Pakistan are frightened and alarmed about the
"Talibanization of their nation"--even the ones who pray everyday and
are sincere practicing Muslims. I was told time and again that the
"CIA created the Taliban Frankenstein in Pakistan's backyard and then
walked away, leaving us to deal with it". Sindhis in Larkana District
are afraid to go to the mosque; they may be killed--shot in the back
while praying. They are afraid NOT to go to the mosque; they may be
killed for not being outwardly orthodox. One farmer in rural Sindh
told me that "ten years ago people went to the mosque when they wanted
to, Eid, Ramzan, but no one forced you to go." Now, he said, "Mullahs
from Panjab, trained by the Taliban, have come to our village and built
a madrassah next to the mosque. Three boys from the village have gone
to fight in Kashmir and Chechnya." He added that when the boys leave
the madrassah, "Some of them have become quite intolerant. Sindhis
have never been intollerant." He lamented, "We never had this
situation before, we have always been Sindhi first, then Muslims, now
we have to fake our religiosity just to protect our lives. At home, we
sing Shah Latif couplets, we are Sufis." This middle aged
gentleman-farmer, who lives with his four brothers and their wives and
children in a long serai type mud home that opens on to a large
compound for their cattle and chickens, told me that their "names are
Muslim" but their "chromosomes are Buddhist." He laughed and said that
he wouldn't have told me that in the presence of a Pakistani, which he
equates with the Panjabis. He didn't consider himself to be Pakistani,
he thinks of himself as a Sindhi. Nor did he think of himself as
Muslim, he was a Sufi. However he did think that he had to hide his
"real' identity or he would endanger his life, family, and property.
There is an intense fear among many people in Pakistan that the Taliban
is coming to town. (You'd better watch out, you'd better not cry,
you'd better not pout, I'm telling you why, "Taliban is coming to
town"!)

An elderly Balouchi historian told me in Quetta last April that
Balouchis are less fundamentalist than are Pathans and Afghans. He
explained how Balouchis were converted to Islam during one of the first
waves of Arab invasions in the tenth century. He explained that at
that time, Balouchis had agreed to observe Islamic customs in exchange
for keeping sovereignty of their land. He said, prior to converting to
Islam, Balouchis had been fire worshippers, Zoroastrian, and that even
up to the present day, when Balouchis take a vow, they sear their oaths
on fire. They still, a thousand years later, he informed me, have
myths and stories about the sun and about fire. He claimed that
Pathans and Afghans are more fundamentalist than are Balouchis because
Pathans were converted to Islam numerous times. "As successive waves
of Islamic invaders moved across Central Asia, the Pathans and Afghans
were their victims, time and again." The octogenarian Balouchi
historian, who had been the emissary of the Khan of Kalat in the
forties when Jinnah came for negotiations, explained that the people
living in Afghanistan and NWFP had been Buddhist for centuries. After
each invader would pass through their territory, forcefully converting
the inhabitants, the local residents would again revert to Buddhism.
Then the next invaders would come and convert them "by the sword" again
and again. This, explained the Balouchi historian, was why the Pathans
and Afghans practiced such a conservative and rigid Islam. They felt
they had to prove their "Islam-ness" to save their lives, so they
became strictly orthodox and conservative. Balouchis don't want the
Taliban. Sindhis don't. But the Talibanis are breathing down their
necks.

Last May at the World Sindh Conference held in Washington, D.C., I
interviewed Afrasiab Khattak, the new chairperson of the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan, nominated to take the chair vacated by Asma
Jahangir. Dr. Khattak shared his gloomy predictions of a coming civil
war. He saw an alliance between the Islamized, socially conservative
junior military officers and the Madrassah trained Mujahideen against
the Sindhis and the Balouchis. The Pathans would be part of the
Army/Taliban axis. Dr. Khattak, a well published historian and
out-spoken human rights acitvist is a Pathan. When the Taliban comes,
Human Rights activists will certianly be the first victims.

Most of the people with whom I have spoken in Pakistan, Sindhis,
Pathans, Balouchis, Panjabi, are scared to death of the Talebanization
of their nation--frightened of the possibility of a violent uprising by
the 100,000 strong, well armed, Madrassah trained, conservation
Deobandi Sunni, militant fundamentalist Jihadis. Scared to death. This
threat is more frightening and imminent than an American can fathom.
Those few businessmen, professionals, and educators in Pakistan who
told me they would welcome a Taliban type system are fooling themselves
into thinking it would usher in a "truly Islamic system, Pakistan's
birth right, that would do away with corruption". When I challenged
this perspective, they defended the motives of the Taliban and said the
negative images were a conspiracy by the BBC and CNN to blacken the
face of the fundamentalists. However, among intellectuals, this is a
minority opinion.

There is a stronger element in the academia, in the press, in the
hospitals, in the general population, that sees the looming
Talebanization as ominous and intolerable. They fear, as does Dr.
Khattak, that the conservative Mullahs, with the help of a cadre of
Gen. Zia trained, fundamentalist junior Army officers, will stage a
violent uprising, a counter-coop, take over the government and bring in
a Talebanized system. My friends and colleagues in Lahore, Hyderabad,
Karachi, Islamabad, Larkana, even in remote towns like Shahdadkot, go
to work everyday, raise their children, celebrate festivals, bury their
dead-- they live their lives as well as we all try to do. But
underneath the intellectual activities, professional duties and family
life, underneath they are scared. Scared that on the dark, lonely road
to the future, Taleban will go bump in the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yvette Claire Rosser
M.A. Asian Studies
Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction (ABD)
The University of Texas at Austin

______

#2.
Dawn,
21 October 2000, Mazdak

INTOLERABLE INTOLERANCE

By Irfan Husain

WHILE the government and its spokesmen have been untiring in their efforts to convince us that we are better off than we were a year ago when the army took over, the minorities at least can be excused for any scepticism they may feel.

Many of us were taken in by the liberal outlook displayed by General Pervez Musharraf, and expected a rollback of earlier policies that had steadily eroded the rights of non-Muslims. Indeed, in its early, heady days (how quickly a year can pass!), the military government even spoke of ending the evil and divisive system of separate electorate. For me, at least, this was justification enough for a military coup as neither Nawaz Sharif nor Benazir Bhutto had shown any inclination of even trying to stem the fundamentalist tide of repressive and retrogressive laws. I though that the army was the only institution strong enough to stand up to the might of the religious parties.

Wrong again! It turns out that the army has neither the will nor the inclination to confront the zealots who have occupied the political high ground despite being hammered in every election. Politicians and generals tread warily when dealing with jihadi parties who now virtually dictate the political agenda. But the real brunt of Pakistan's steady slide into religious fanaticism has been borne by its non-Muslim population. From being equal citizens in Jinnah's vision of Pakistan, they have become virtually disenfranchized and besieged through separate electorates and the blasphemy law.

But the stage for this growing intolerance had been set earlier when Ahmadis were declared non-Muslims in the mid-seventies under Bhutto's supposedly progressive government. So much so that today it is a crime for an Ahmadi to publicly utter or write the common Muslim prayer of "Bismillah ur Rahman al Rahim". Some Ahmadis are rotting in jail for committing this "crime." One case study should open the eyes of the Muslim majority to just how bad things are:

In 1989, Mirza Mubarak Ahmad was arrested in Tando Adam for distributing pamphlets. While in police custody, he offered ritual Muslim prayers, and was accused of "posing himself as Muslim and injuring religious feelings of Muslims." The trial lasted 11 years, and in his judgment delivered last May, Fida Hussain Mighal, judicial magistrate, Hyderabad, found the accused guilty of committing an offence under section 289C, imprisoned him for two months and 21 days and imposed a fine of 3,000 rupees. Apart from this punishment, the accused has had to undergo mental torture for 11 years for the "crime" of praying according to Islamic ritual.

In his defence, he admitted to having indeed offered his prayers as accused, but claimed that in terms of Article 20 of the Constitution, every citizen had the right to practise his faith in accordance with the tenets of his religion. Although Ahmadis have been declared non-Muslims, this does not alter the fact that they still consider themselves to be believers, and therefore enjoined by their faith to pray as other Muslims do. This judgment was sent to me by a reader from Rabwah. It says something for the intolerant and violent times we in Pakistan are living in. For his safety, I will not name him here.

But if it is any consolation, he and his fellow Ahmadis are not alone in being persecuted. The blasphemy law has been misused blatantly and viciously to imprison and even execute non-Muslims. Usually, this law is invoked to target hapless Christians and Hindus for personal reasons far removed from any real or imagined blasphemy. In the most recent case in a remote town of Balochistan called Dalbandin, the temple and several houses belonging to Hindus were burned down by a mob.

The reason for this barbaric act was that an illiterate Hindu housewife had allegedly distributed sweets wrapped in pages from a textbook that contained religious verses. Even if this true, the fact that she was illiterate did not prevent the local religious worthies from setting a gang of bigoted thugs on her family and their neighbours. And to compound this crime, the police, instead of locking up the leaders of the mob, have instead arrested some of the victims.

We in Pakistan never tire of criticizing what we perceive as religious persecution in India. Indeed, that country has a poor record of safeguarding the rights of its minorities, specially in certain pockets in Gujrat and Orissa. But the fact is that in the eyes of the law, non-Hindus have the right to appeal to the courts for justice if their rights are infringed. In Pakistan, certain specific laws are aimed at non-Muslims, depriving them of some of their fundamental rights, and relegating them to the status of second class citizens. In an imperfect world, the first stage in obtaining rights is their legal recognition by the state and its functionaries.

This de facto legalization and institutionalization of religious persecution has earned us richly deserved criticism from around the world. Human rights organizations (including our own Human Rights Commission)have catalogued the depressingly long list of abuses under the blasphemy law, and named the unfortunate non-Muslims who are languishing in jails across the country for alleged blasphemy. Not surprisingly, the intolerant environment generated by such legislation has emboldened fanatics to take the law into their own hands; opportunists have used it to settle scores or take over property; and the police see in it an excuse for inaction when non-Muslims have been attacked.

Unfortunately, the military government of General Musharraf has chosen to back away when confronted by the religious parties on any issue. Thus, there is no more talk of ending the system of separate electorates introduced by Zia two decades ago, just as the proposal to eliminate some of the more iniquitous elements of the blasphemy law has been conveniently dropped.

At a time when we are so isolated on many counts ranging from our nuclear policy to our active support for fundamentalist forces in Afghanistan and Kashmir, we need to step back and see how the rest of the world perceives us. Religious persecution is a hangover from medieval times and is no longer tolerated. Granted that differences in faith still trigger atavistic conflicts, but these are generally aberrations without legal sanction.

In Pakistan, some laws have marginalized non-Muslims, and these need urgent review and change. If the military regime can tinker with articles of the Constitution and other laws, surely it can and must pay attention to unjust legislation that has been so catastrophic to millions of Ahmadis, Hindus and Christians.
______

#3.

The News International
23 October 2000

HARKAT CHIEF FOR MILITARY TRAINING AT MADARIS

By Hasan Khan

PESHAWAR: All religious seminaries in Pakistan should introduce training in warfare as a compulsory subject in their syllabi, said Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, chief of Harkatul Mujahideen, while speaking at the graduation ceremony of Jamia Ashrafia here on Sunday.

"Religious knowledge sans military training is incomplete," he told the audience mostly comprising Ulema and students of religious institutions.Khalil said it is the need of the hour to lay emphasis on those disciplines in Madaris, which are the demand of the time and religion. "Today Islam demands Jihad. So teach your students the know-how of using weapons and equip them with warfare technology," he urged them.

He said nowhere in the world Islam is prevailing in its complete form except Afghanistan. "It is our responsibility to implement it world over, which is possible only when we are prepared to wage Jihad at any time and anywhere."

Maulana Samiul Haq, chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, speaking as chief guest, said great responsibility of breaking the status quo and paving the way for Islamic revolution lies with the students of religious schools. He asked the students to keep themselves prepared for the emerging situation in the country. "Immense responsibility is awaiting you. Be ready for Islamic revolution," he told the students.

Maulana Samiul Haq said without Jihad Islam is incomplete. He urged the students to acquire military training and expertise in the use of various weapons, besides studying its literature. He blasted the United States and the West for dubbing Ulema as terrorists and religious institutions as nurseries for terrorism. He criticised the dual policy adopted by the US towards Muslims and non-Muslims.

He said Washington's silence over brutalities perpetrated by Israeli armed forces against innocent Palestinians speaks volumes of its hatred for the Muslims. "Had a single Israeli been killed, the US would mobilise the whole world and get several resolutions from the UN passed with no time," he added. He bitterly condemned the excesses of Israeli military against the innocent and unarmed Palestinians and termed it as open aggression.

Samiul Haq also came hard on the Arab leaders for their criminal silence over the Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.About the much-trumpeted democracy in Pakistan, Maulana Samiul Haq said the US and the West wanted democracy in Pakistan not for the interests of the people here but for safeguarding its own interests. "Both Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto are their agents," he said.

He said democracy is no solution to problems of the masses in Pakistan. "We have tested the so-called democratic and martial law regimes, both of whom have failed to deliver," he said, adding that only Islamic Shariah could solve the problems faced by the masses today.

The Maulana said: "Democracy is a big hurdle in the way of Islam. We are not subordinate to the will of the majority. We will do what Islam and Quran tell us."Sami said the Musharraf-led administration has also failed in mitigating the people's miseries and added that price hike, poor law and order, and increasing unemployment had made the lives of the masses miserable.

Maulana Jalil Jan, provincial leader of JUI(F), on this occasion bitterly criticised the non-governmental organisations and said the champions of NGOs wanted to establish a society free of moral values.

He asked all the religious parties to get united against NGOs and frustrate its unholy moves of trampling Islamic values and cherished principles.

He warned the government to implement Islamic Shariah or the religious students will resort to the use of force to do the same. "If Islam can be practically implemented in Afghanistan, then why not in Pakistan," he put a question before the audience mostly comprising students and their parents.

Provincial Amir of Al-Akhwan Major (retd) Aman Shah, Haji Dost Muhammad of Jamaat-e-Islami and other religious scholars also addressed the gathering.

______

#4.

The Asian Studies WWW Monitor: late Oct 2000, Vol. 7, No. 126
-------------------------------------------------------------
21 Oct 2000

RULING ELITE IN PAKISTAN

Ghazali.net, USA

Supplied note: "Another complete book on line 'Hegemony of the Ruling
Elite in Pakistan' by Abdus Sattar Ghazali, the author of 'Islamic
Pakistan: Illusions & Reality' The book chapters are: 1. Introduction;
2. Hegemony of the ruling elite; 3. Subversion of the basic law
(constitution); 4. Generals in politics; 5. Judiciary and politics;
6. The role of bureaucracy; 7. One sided accountability or Ehtesab;
8. State terrorism [Human rights violations]; 9. Islam and politics;
10. What should be done?"

URL http://ghazali.net/book3

______

#5.

PAKISTANIS FOR PEACE AND ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT (PPAD) APPEAL FOR THE SAFE
RELEASE OF DR YOUNAS SHAIKH

23 October 2000

To

The Chief Executive of Pakistan
General Pervez Musharraf
Rawalpindi
Pakistan.

Dear General Musharraf,

Pakistanis for Peace and Alternative Development (PPAD) is a world-wide
network of Pakistanis dedicated to working in the interest of peace, social
justice and enlightened humanism in Pakistan, South Asia, and in the world
as a whole.

We have learnt with great concern that recently Dr Younas Shaikh was accused
and arrested in Rawalpindi on blasphemy charges and later on 19th October
presented in court without any legal representation. It is indeed sad and
tragic that Pakistan is increasingly descending into such a state of
intolerance and religious witch-hunt.

First, the Christians, Ahmadis, Hindus and other religious and sectarian
groups were persecuted for alleged blasphemy and now irrespective of
religious or sectarian affiliations intellectuals and scholars of repute are
being subjected to the same narrow interpretation of Islam sanctioned by
some Pakistani clerics. What Dr Shaikh has been reported to have said is a
fact of history in that the Prophet's parents died much before he declared
his mission at the age of forty, and therefore they did not have the
opportunity to accept Islam. In his book, Hayat-e-Muhammad, the famous
Egyptian Islamic scholar and journalist Muhammad Hussain Heikal has
similarly referred to this fact. The Urdu translation of his book was
published by the Idara-e-Saqafat-e-Islamia, Lahore, in 1988 and is
considered to be a standard work of reference for serious research into the
life of the Prophet (PBUH) and Islam.

The Blasphemy Law of 1986 in practice has given a licence to any fanatic or
cynic arbitrarily to accuse anyone, often without any protection of law, of
insulting or defaming Islam. How else should one interpret the following
wording of that law?

Use of derogatory remarks etc. in respect of the Holy Prophet: Whether by
words, either spoken or written, or by visible representations, or by any
imputation, innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the
sacred name of the Holy Prophet (peace by upon him) shall be punishable with
death, or imprisonment for life, and shall be liable to fine.

What Dr Shaikh is accused of having said cannot reasonably be construed as a
derogatory remark about the Prophet. The essential point is not whether the
Blasphemy Law has been applied correctly or not. Rather our position is that
Pakistan, as a state, should not be involved in determining the religious
beliefs of an individual. Instead it should defend and be seen to defend the
rights and freedoms of all its citizens.

We urge your government to exercise its authority to ensure fairness and
justice for Dr Younas Shaikh. He should be released immediately from
detention, provided legal protection and recourse to defence under due
process. Before closing, we must bring it to your attention, Sir, that the
treatment being meted out to Dr. Shaikh by certain over-zealous officials of
your government and similar episodes make it very difficult for us to
promote a peaceful, tolerant and positive image of Pakistan.
Your government is likely to win strong support of the enlightened and
educated Pakistanis, especially expatriates living in the West, if you could
provide progressive, tolerant and modernistic leadership and even-handed
approach to controversial issues.
Yours sincerely,

1. Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmed (Associate Professor)
(Political Science, Sweden)
Coordinator, PPAD

Core Members of PPAD

2. Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry, SJ, SBt.
Pakistan Air Force (Retd)
Principal, St. Anthony's High School,
Lahore, Pakistan
3. Prof. Susan Mussarat Akram (law), USA
4. Dr. Ghazala Anwar (Islamic theology), New Zeeland
5. Prof. Hassan Gardezi
Professor Emeritus (sociology)
Canada
6. Prof. Bilal Hashmi,
Professor Emeritus (Sociology)
USA
7. Prof. Fawzia Afzal-Khan (English Literature), USA
8. Ayyub Malik (architect), UK
9. Dr Babar Mumtaz (reader), UK
10. Dr. Saghir A Shaikh (Engineering, Human Rights) USA
11. Dr. Ahmed Shibli (science and technology), UK
12. Ijaz Syed (researcher), USA
13. Ayesha Y. Vawda (educationist), USA

______

#6.

[Bangladesh]

VESTED PROPERTY HANDOVER ACT 2000 FINALISED

A cabinet committee assigned for vetting the proposed new law yesterday
finalised the draft Vested Property Handover Act 2000, reports UNB. 
"The bill will shortly be placed before the Cabinet meeting for endorsement,
" an official announcement said. 
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Abdul Matin Khasru chaired the fourth
meeting of the committee formed for further examining the sensitive
legislation. 
The parliamentary standing committee on Land Ministry unanimously drafted
the Bill after meticulous consideration of all aspects of makeover of the
vested property to minority Hindu community members. 
The Cabinet at a meeting recently decided on principle to return the vested
property to the owners or to their heirs who are Bangladesh's citizens and
formed the committee to re-examine the bill. 
State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Satish Chandra Roy, State
Minister for Land Alhaj Rashed Mosharraf, State Minister for Planning Dr
Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir and State Minister for Textiles A K M Zahangir
Hossain attended the meeting. 
Law Commission member Justice Nayeem Uddin Ahmed, Land Secretary M Saiful
Islam and senior Land and Law officials were present. 

______

#7.

IN BID TO SAVE LIVES, DEATH BECOMES DATA
A QUIET CRUSADE: IN A LAND OF MONSOON AND MOUNTAINS, WHERE PEOPLE ENDURE POVERTY AND HEARTBREAK, PUBLIC HEALTH WORKS ITS SLOW MIRACLES.

By Scott Shane
Sun Staff
Originally published Oct 22 2000

Grief-stricken: Nutrition project worker Rajendra Dhami (left) weeps as Bhikhari Pasman and his wife, Rampati, describe how their 16-day-old daughter died a week earlier in their hut in the plains of Nepal. (Sun photos by Chiaki Kawajiri)

Grief-stricken: Nutrition project worker Rajendra Dhami (left) weeps as Bhikhari Pasman and his wife, Rampati, describe how their 16-day-old daughter died a week earlier in their hut in the plains of Nepal.

Prenatal vitamins: Johns Hopkins researchers are testing different nutrients in Nepal to see which can increase birth weight and reduce infant mortality.

The big moment: Ten hours after giving birth, Amirkha Devi Mahara helps nutrition project worker Punya Prasad Dhal place her son on an electronic baby scale. The prompt, precise weighing of up to 10 newborns a day in Nepal's Sarlahi District is critical to the success of the Johns Hopkins public health study.

Birth assessment: A project coordinator measures the head of an hours-old girl at her parents' hut in the village of Hattidanda. Head size will be included on a form along with measurements of her waist and length, weight, breaths per minute and temperature.

Project chief: Johns Hopkins researcher Parul Christian (center), who commutes every few months between Baltimore and Nepal, discusses health problems with village women. "Nepal for me was a pretty shocking experience," she says. "Even though I'd been in rural India, I found the poverty in Nepal much worse."

In a mud hut: Sunlight mixes with smoke in Hari Maya Alemagar's home in Sarlahi as she cooks on an open fire and looks after a grandchild. Villagers are so used to breathing smoke that they barely notice it; besides, the smoke drives off the mosquitoes.

Comparing notes: Project workers, recruited from the small number of literate village women, review data and pick up prenatal vitamins. They report weekly on who took their pills, who refused -- and who died.

KHANDSARI, Nepal -- On the 16th day of her life, the baby awoke with a choking cry in the pre-dawn darkness of her family's mud hut. xxBhikhari Pasman fumbled to light an oil lamp and saw foam on his daughter's lips. His wife, Rampati, clutched the baby to her breast but found her too weak to nurse.

So the father ran across the sleeping village to wake the shaman, who listened to his panicky words and chanted some magic over a jar of mustard oil. He rushed home and, as instructed, dripped the oil in the ears of the now-unconscious baby.

By the time the sky began to lighten, she was dead. The sixth child born into the Pasman family, she was the third to die. She died without a name, a common occurrence in Third World villages where parents fear that naming a newborn can be an unwise challenge to fate.

Full text at:
http://www.sunspot.net/content/cover/story?section=cover&pagename=story&storyid=1150490215704

______

#8.

[ Book on South Asia's Famous Faiz Ahmad Faiz's Poetry Translated by VG Kiernan is now been republished by Oxford University Press, India; Pasted below is Faiz's 'Tum Mere Pas Raho']

BE NEAR ME
Faiz Ahmed Faiz

My torment, my darling, be near me
That hour when the night comes,
Black night that has drunk heaven's blood comes
With salve of musk-perfume, with diamond-tipped lancet,
With wailing, with jesting, with music,
With grief like a clash of blue anklets-
When, hoping once more, hearts deep-sunk in men's bosoms
Wait, watch for the hands whose wide sleeves still
Enfold them,
Till wine's gurgling sound is a sobbing of infants
Unsatisfied, fretful, no soothing will silence,-
No taking thought prospers,
No thought serves;
-That hour when the night comes,
That hour when black night, drear, forlorn, comes
Be near me,
My torment, my darling, be near me!

PAS RAHO

I Tum mere pas raho,
Mere qatil, mere dildar, mere pas raho-
Jis ghari rat chale,
Asmanon ka lahu pike siya rat chale
5 Marham-e-mushk liye, nishtar-e-almas liye,
Bain karti hu'i, hansti hu'I, gati nikle,
Dard ke kasni pazeb bajati nikle;
Jis ghari sinon men dube hu'e dil
Astinon men nihan hathon ki rah-takne lagen,
10 As liye;
Aur bachchon ke bilakne ki tarah qulqul-e-mai
Bahr-e-nasudgi machle to mana'e mane;
Jab ko'I bat bana'e na bane,
Jab na ko'I bat chale:
I5 Jis ghari rat chale,
Jis ghari matami, sunsan, siya rat chale,
Pas raho,
Mere qatil, mere dildar, mere pas raho.

______________________________________________
SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WEB DISPATCH (SACW) is an
informal, independent & non-profit citizens wire service
run by South Asia Citizens Web (http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex)
since 1996. Dispatch archive from 1998 can be accessed
by joining the ACT list run by SACW. To subscribe send
a message to <act-subscribe@egroups.com>
////////////////////////////////////