[sacw] SACW #1.| 12 Dec. 00

[Harsh Kapoor]

SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WIRE #1.
12 December 2000
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex)

____________________________

#1. Subcontinental Divide: A study of the effects of Partition on India's
people
#2. India: statement of Bishop Ezra Sargunam regarding attack on Chindyia
Church
#3. India: Demolishing Truth
#4. Labour Party of Pakistan on Military Pardon of Sharif: 'The Dirty Deal=
'
#5. Pakistan: Communist activists condemn attack on Women's Rally by
Afghan & Pakistani fundamentalists

____________________________

#1.

New York Times
December 10, 2000
Books

Subcontinental Divide
A study of the effects of Partition on India's people.

By AKASH KAPUR

THE OTHER SIDE OF SILENCE
Voices From the Partition of India.
By Urvashi Butalia.
308 pp. Durham, N.C.:
Duke University Press. Paper. $17.95.

Like the flash of a supernova, the star of colonialism in India died in
an explosion of internecine violence and bloodletting. A million people
were killed and 12 million lost their homes in the aftermath of Britain's
clumsy partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. It was the largest mass
migration in history, the messiest national divorce -- and also one of the
quickest, taking place in just a few months.

What came to be known simply as Partition was the final botched job of an
inattentive and insensitive ruling power that never really understood its
largest colony. ''Down comes the Union Jack on Friday morning and up goes
-- for the moment I rather forget what, but it has a spinning wheel or a
spider's web in the middle,'' said Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the English lawyer
who was given just 36 days to draw a line between India and Pakistan.

Partition was a seminal event in the history of the Indian subcontinent
-- a ''reference point,'' as the Indian writer and publisher Urvashi
Butalia puts it in ''The Other Side of Silence,'' for everything that has
come after. A psychoanalyst would have a field day with the modern Indian
nation. So many of its neuroses -- its fratricidal distrust of Pakistan,
its intransigence in Kashmir, its desperate attachment to a secular
nation-state amid the daily onslaughts of religion in political and social
life -- stem from that original anxiety, the intimation of death mocking
the elation of birth. Faiz Ahmad Faiz, the great Urdu poet, called India's
bloodstained awakening a ''night-bitten'' morning, a ''pockmarked''
daybreak; Gandhi worried that his people had ''lost the sweet bread of
freedom because we could not digest it.''

Nearly every Indian has heard stories of Partition. My grandmother has
told me many times about the home in Lahore that she will never see again
and the members of her family who were killed by their neighbors. These are
sad stories, and when Butalia began to research similar accounts of the
Indian experience of Partition for a British television program she was
obviously moved by what she heard. So she decided to rescue this testimony
from the silences of traditional historiography.

''The 'history' of Partition,'' she writes, ''seemed to lie only in the
political developments that had led up to it. These other aspects -- what
had happened to the millions of people who had to live through this time,
what we might call the 'human dimensions' of this history -- somehow seemed
to have a 'lesser' status in it.'' Butalia has composed her book from what
she calls ''the underside'' of Partition history, from the oral narratives
of ordinary people, primarily (as might be expected from the co-founder of
a prominent Indian feminist publishing house) from women and other
marginalized groups.

This is a noble task, but Butalia performs it in a manner that often
feels somewhat rote. ''Grassroots history,'' as Eric Hobsbawm calls it, has
become something of a cottage industry, and there is now a well-established
canon of stock phrases and clich=E9s for such an enterprise. Butalia relies
to a significant extent on this canon. ''Memory,'' she tells us, ''is not
ever 'pure' or 'unmediated' ''; ''recovering 'voice' is not
unproblematic.'' Her prose is saturated with the self-indulgence of
postmodernism, a method whose epistemological skepticism is too often
marked less by a coherent ideology than by the injudicious use of quotation
marks. (Over the course of a mere three pages, Butalia rounds up all these
words and phrases for such treatment: voice, family, less serious,
marginal, only, allow, force, the truth, partial, truth, other). Her aim is
clear -- to question existing categories and definitions -- but the result
is a mangling of the English language that brings to mind the dissembling
''It depends on what your definition of 'is' is'' of America's first
postmodern president.

Such excesses would be less troublesome if their effect weren't to
submerge the substance of Butalia's book. She promises a lot, but waiting
for her to deliver is a little like sitting through seemingly endless and
repetitive introductory remarks that extol the virtues of a speaker who
arrives late and finishes early. ''My focus here is on the small actors and
bit-part players,'' she tells us on Page 71. ''It is the smaller actors
that I am interested in, the bit-part players,'' she writes again just two
pages later. In fact, these bit-part players make only the briefest cameo
appearances. They are the supporting cast to an intrusive narrator who
allows her theoretical baggage to drown her research.

This is a shame, because Butalia has collected some fascinating material.
She has spent over a decade digging up new and interesting facts on the
role of women, members of the lower castes and children in Partition, and
she has engaged her subjects in extended interviews. On the rare occasions
when she does let them speak, we see flickers of what this book might have
been. Butalia is right when she says that the people she encountered have
moving stories to tell, but this is not the best book in which to hear
them. For that, you might turn instead to some of the excellent fiction
that has come out of Partition (Khushwant Singh's classic ''Train to
Pakistan,'' for example, or Alok Bhalla's fine three-part anthology,
''Stories About the Partition of India''), which does a far better job of
evoking the terror, the bewilderment and the remorse that still shadow so
many lives on the subcontinent.

You might also turn to those much-vilified history books, which -- as
Butalia herself acknowledges in her final chapter -- contain much that is
valuable and important about Partition. Like so many champions of the
subaltern, Butalia imputes to herself a kind of morality, a piety of the
real that claims privileged kinship with the authenticity of lived
experience. ''I am not a historian and have neither the capability nor
indeed the interest to explore these questions,'' she writes of the
political dramas surrounding partition. ''My focus here is on the small
actors.'' Such rhetoric is simplistic and relies on a facile dichotomy that
pits the meat of everyday life against the bloodless abstractions of
history. But history -- even grassroots history -- consists as much of
theories and ideas as of the minutiae of daily experience. Nationalism is
above all an idea, and the 20th century is littered with gruesome evidence
that it is an idea that can kill. Butalia does her subject -- and her
bit-part players -- a disservice by championing the meat of life while
belittling the butcher's knife.

Akash Kapur is a contributing editor at Transition magazine.

Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company

_____

#2.

(Courtesy: Joseph Mangalam | 12 Dec. 2000)

Please see the statement of Bishop Ezra Sargunam regarding attack on
Chindyia Church in Vyara Taluka, Surat Dt. [Gujarat, India] =
=20

VHP & POLICE SACRILEGE AT CHRISTIAN CHURCH AT =
=20
CHHINDIA VILLAGE, TALUKA : VYARA =
=20

DIST : SURAT, GUJARAT=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20

STATEMENT OF FACTS BY BISHOP EZRA SARGUNAM=20=20

The Evangelical Church of India ( ECI ) has over 1300 Churches all over the
country of which I am the All India Bishop / President. Chhindia local
Church is one of them, started in 1993. In 1996, the property on which
the church now stands, was gifted in favour of ECI by 7 of the people who
were owners of the property which was given to their parents by one Parsee
gentleman. This church was constructed in the same year with ECI funds -
about Rs. 2,00,000/- as well as funds collected locally with labour
donated by the congregation. The church building was dedicated on 29th
October, 1996. The religious and social work was going on peacefully with
about 200 Christians belonging to Gamit and Kotwalia communities of this
congregation.=20=20=20

Just two weeks ago, one of the Christians, Mr. Puniyabhai who allegedly
became a Hindu a week earlier, picked a quarrel with the local congregation
at the instigation of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. This was followed by a
police bandobast in front of the church. On the night of 26th November,
2000, a gang of over 400 men came in trucks, jeeps etc., headed by one
Bhagubhai Janyabhai Gamit. They entered the church, dismantled the door
and windows, removed the Cross and broke it into pieces, removed the
dedication stone and broke it into pieces, left the pictures of Krishna,
Ram and Hanuman at the altar, and painted the walls with "Jay Shree Ram"
graffiti. One of the pictures they left behind carried the name of Vishwa
Hindu Parishad under it. The Cross over the roof of the Church was
dismantled and in its place, they hoisted a saffron flag with the OM sign.
All these atrocities took place in the presence of the police. The ECI
symbol is very prominently there on the front face of the church building.
=20

These events were reported to me in Madras on the following morning. Since
I had to attend Ram Vilas Paswan's Jan Shakti meeting in Delhi, I reached
Vyara on 29th via Mumbai. When I was in Mumbai, I was told that the
pictures of Ram, Krishna and Hanuman were removed from the Church. I
thought the problem was over. Nevertheless, at the instance of our local
pastors, I decided to come over here to encourage the local congregation
and to have a thanksgiving service in the Church. When I arrived here in
Chhindia, to my surprise, in front of the Church there was a large number
of police officials and constables assembled, as well as the District
Collector of Surat. I wished every one of them, gave my name card to the
Collector (Madam) who said she wanted to discuss something with me. I said
to her: "Let me go inside the Church and have prayer and get back to you
for discussion." She said: "OK." When I entered our Church building, to my
horror, I saw a small picture of local deities which I was told later by
the villagers, was placed there by the police themselves. However, without
offence to anyone, I gently removed the picture and walked back to the
door to hand over the picture to the Collector. But the police officials
grabbed it from my hand and put the picture back on the altar of the
church. Meanwhile, the Christian Pastors who came from Mumbai and the
local congregation entered the Church to pray. They were assaulted and
forcefully thrown out of the Church.

When I knelt down to pray, within minutes police officials came and
manhandled me and bodily lifted and pushed me around. I asked them to show
me the court order restraining me or my congregation from worshiping in
the Church which they said they did not have. Finally, in the presence of
the Collector, I was dragged out of the Church and thrown out. In this
scuffle, I received an injury on one of my fingers either from the belt or
gun of one of the policemen. It started bleeding. They were very rude and
ruthless with me. The officials had no regard whatever either for my
office as Bishop or as Chairman of a State Minority Commission of another
State. The local congregation and the people were visibly upset. The whole
day we gathered in the portico of the Church and had prayers and worship.
By the evening Police took complete contol of the church building as well
as the portico. Then we began praying in the house of one of the
Christians of the Church. My initial plan was to visit Vyara just
for half a day and return back. Because of the misuse of official power
and suppression of human rights, I determined to stay back here. To
undertake a fast was not my original plan. But I was forced to this kind
of demonstration which is against my very nature and temperament. =
=20

For the last three days I have been undertaking an indefinite fast,
protesting against the oppressive tactics against adivasis and suppression
of minorities and their rights. Even the preamble of the Constitution
gives freedom to every citizen of India. Justice, liberty, equality, and
equal opportunity, freedom to worship and pactice one's faith are given to
one and all. This right was denied to me and the Christians in Chhindia.
There are so many atrocities perpetrated against adivasis and Christians
here in Gujarat State with the connivance of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
which allegedly receives enormous funds >from U.S.A. and Europe.=20=20=20

I demand justice for the 200 poor strong Christians who are worshipping in
the ECI Church building for over five years. Let the police be removed
>from the Church building. They are forcibly occupying the Church and
have desecrated it by their presence and committed sacrilege in a holy
place by cooking, eating, sleeping. smoking and drinking in it. These acts
have hurt my heart very deeply. I and the congregation demand that the VHP
crowd who dismantled the Church and made an attempt to convert it into a
Ram Hanuman temple, be arrested and a judicial enquiry be conducted. I
appeal to the honourable Shri Keshubhai Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat
and Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, Honourable Prime Minister of India to
intervene and render justice. I also appeal to the Honourable Chief
Minister of Tamilnadu, Shri Kalainzhar Karunanidhi and Honourable Chief
MInister of Andhra Pradesh Shri Chandrababu Naidu, Shri Ramvilas Paswan
and other right thinking leaders and people of this nation, and Human
Rights Organizations to support the cause of these poor oppressed
adivasi Christians and render justice to them.=20=20=20=20=20

PLACE : (CAMP) CHHINDIA DATE : DECEMBER 1, 2000. =
=20

BISHOP M. EZRA SARGUNAM

_____

#3.

Published in: Mid Day, 9 Dec 2000

Demolishing Truth

by Ram Puniyani

Mr. Vajpayee on the ninth anniversary of Babri demolition (Aug.6th 2000)
spoke his mind in a forthright manner. He stated that the demand for
resignation of his three ministerial colleagues (Advani, Joshi and Uma
Bharati) was uncalled for as they had gone to Ayodhya on that fateful day
to protect the mosque, and that construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya is
an expression of Nationalist sentiment which is yet to be realized. The
first part of the statement exonerating his colleagues from their
involvement in the criminal act probably defines the limits to which one
can demolish the truth with great amount of confidence, which few
politicians can command. Even Gobbles, Hitler's propaganda minister began
his falsehood from grain of truth before building the edifice of
falsehood. Mr. Vajpayee's statement makes the likes of Gobbles look as
mere pigmies as for our prime minister, the swayamsevak, whose body and
soul is steeped in Hindutva, the political contingencies can make him
manufacture the truth with 'masterly' ease and he does not need even the
grain of truth for that.

Currently in the CBI charge-sheet there are four allegations against his
home minister, who is the real architect of Babri demolition. As per this
chargesheet, Mr. Advani began the conspiracy to demolish the Mosque with
his well-planned Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya. On the eve of
demolition he had a secret meeting at Vinay Katiyar's house to finalize
the operation demolition. Mr. Advani is on record to have advised Kalyan
Singh, the then U.P. Chief Minister, not to resign till the last dome came
down. He had also advised the Kar Sevaks to block the roads leading the
Ayodhya to prevent the central forces coming in to prevent the demolition.
The CBI charge sheet accuses Mr. Joshi, the author of the formulation that
Muslims should call themselves Ahmadiya Hindus and Christians should call
themselves Christi Hindus if they want to stay in this country peacefully,
for giving the provocative slogans from the dais exhorting the Kar Sevaks.
Ms. Bharati is also accused on the similar ground. Slightly prior to this
there are backup facts which complete the story of involvement of the trio
in leading the Babri demolition.

In the wake of Ram Janm Bhumi campaign after the call for Kar Seva was
given by the top leadership of Sangh Parivar, Mr. Advani repeatedly stated
that 'Kar Seva will be done with bricks and shovels', Mr Joshi went on to
assert that decision of Sants and Mahants is more important then the
decision of the courts and accordingly the Kar Sevaks will implement the
wishes of the Sants and Mahants, who had already given the call for
demolishing the mosque. Mr. Joshi and Ms. Bharati hugged each other in
celebration as the last dome came down. The leadership of demolition gang
did take care to beat up the journalists and break their cameras to
destroy all the evidence of their 'service to the Hindu Nation' but
despite their best efforts some relevant photographs and reporting did
come out which proved their 'role' and 'bravery' in demolition. The
slogans, which Ms Bharati was shouting to exhort her Hindu brethren, along
with another Sanyasin, Sadhvi Ritambhara, many of them unprintable, the
'better one's' of these were, 'Ek Dhakka Aur Do Babri Masjid Tod Do' (give
one more push-demolish the mosque), 'Yeh to kewal jhanki hai, Kanshi,
Mathura Baki hai' (This is just the sample-we have to complete this work
by demolishing Kashi and Mathura), Babar ki aulad ko Pakistan bhagao
(Drive away the Descendants of Babar to Pakistan)'

In the face of these facts if our Prime minister can assert that his
saffron brothers and sister had gone there to 'protect' the mosque, he is
doing proud to the ' devil of falsehood ' as its first and most
indispensable swayamsevak.

His statement that construction of Ram temple on the site of Babri
demolition is the expression of Nationalist sentiment is no less a lie. As
for as Indian Nation is concerned it accepts the places of worship, as
they are, where they are. On one of mid-nights of 1949 some foot soldiers
of Hindu Rashtra politics installed the Ram Lalla idols in the Babri
mosque. The local authorities playing hand in glove with the then Jana
sangh, the previous avatar of BJP, let the idols remain there to sow the
seeds of the controversy which in due course came handy to the 'religion
based nationalism' of Sangh Parivar and catapulted the marginal outfit of
BJP into the seat of power. How many of the average, silent majority
supported the Ram Temple campaign? Even at the best of times BJP has not
been able to go beyond the quarter of the voting percentage. How many
Hindus, Dalits, Budhhists, Christians, Jains, Adivasis, Muslims and others
feel that their religious aspirations cannot be fulfilled unless Babri
Mosque is demolished and Ram Temple is constructed on the site? Is the
majority, which is not enamored by the benefits of Ram Temple at Ayodhya
not the part of the Nation? Are these groups not a part of Indian Nation?
BJP has made it an election issue time and over again but has never
'succeeded ' in getting a popular mandate on that issue. Can the assertion
of a dominant minority be equated with the Nationalist sentiment? Can the
agenda of Hindu Rashtra, which is antithetical to the concept of secular
democratic India be accepted as the 'will of the Nation', 'sentiment of
the nation'? Surely here again Mr. Vajpayee is playing the complex role of
keeping the mask of liberalism while at core encouraging and supporting in
all possible ways the agenda of Hindu Rashtra, with which Mr. Advani and
their mentor the RSS is identified more directly. And on more occasions
then one this real face slips out for all to see. Here not only is he
indulging in 'false-speak' but also is showing his real teeth for a
change.

It is likely that he has to keep giving the 'Hindutva signals' to the
followers of BJP from time to time to retain the elite/upper caste vote
bank of its own. Be what it is, with these statements of the 'liberal
face', the mask of BJP, the real agenda of BJP is there for all to see in
its full 'naked glory'.

(Dr. Ram Puniyani is Secretary of EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity)
_____

#4.

[12 Dec. 2000]

The Dirty Deal: Both Will Pay The Price
Military Let Nawaz off the Hook

By:
Farooq Tariq
General Secretary
Labour Party Pakistan

In a dramatic political move, Ex Prime Minister, Mian Nawaz Sharif has been
allowed to leave Pakistan by the military regime to proceed to Saudi Arabia
alongside with his 19 family members. He had been sentenced for 21 years on
the accusation of hijacking the plane on 12th October 1999.

The deal between military and Nawaz Sharif for his sudden departure from
Pakistan has raised many serious questions on the nature of the ruling clas=
ses
of Pakistan, the future of Muslim League, effects on the Alliance for
Restoration of Democracy and above all on the future of the military regime=
.
Who will gain what out of this move? Both the parties, it seemed had been
working on this formula for sometime. They both must have their own
conclusions of the outcome of this move. Long term or interim relief or a
disaster for both of them will be seen in future.

The military and Nawaz Sharif both would have come to this deal thinking of
their political or physical advantages from their own capitalist class poin=
t
of view. We would look into this development from the working class interes=
ts.
What affect this move will have on the politics of the working class? What
necessary conclusions we have to draw from this dirty tactics on both sides=
.

There is nothing =EChumanitarian=EE in this episode as has been claimed by =
general
Rashid Quereshi, the chief spokesman of the military regime. The decision i=
s
nothing to do with the deteriorating =EChealth=EE of Nawaz Sharif as milita=
ry have
shown not much concern during the past one year. =ECHealth is Wealth=EE cla=
im of
Kalsoom Nawaz, wife of Nawaz Sharif, is another cover of their total
capitulation to the military regime. The decision is out rightly a politica=
l
one on class basis. Both the parties have taken safe refuge, external or
internal, by this unprecedented outrages deal.

The Nawaz camp has played dirty capitalist tactics, first by joining the AR=
D
last week and hosting the first meeting of ARD at their supporter house in
Rawalpindi. By joining ARD alongside with Pakistan Peoples Party, Muslim
League pressurized the military regime to come to a deal, they must have be=
en
offering for sometime. The military spokesman confirmed that =ECfor some ti=
me=EE
the Chief Executive General Pervaiz Musharaf had been receiving requests an=
d
applications from Sharif family to go abroad for =ECmedical treatment=EE.

The fundamental reason for military regime to let Nawaz go of the hook is n=
ot
any request of clemency or intervention by the Saudi Prince as has been
claimed by the National Media. It was the potential power of ARD to launch =
a
mass movement that terrified the military regime. And the core commanders
agreed to what was unthinkable few months before.

Primarily, the decision to let Nawaz Sharif go in exile represents a retrea=
t
of a weakening military government. It is, in fact, its second decisive
retreat during the last few months. Earlier, the military regime had to
abandon its plan to build a controversial Kala Bagh Dam. The construction o=
f
the dam was opposed by the three nationalities, Sindhi, Baluchi and Pushtoo=
ns
on the ground that it will deprive them from its share of water from river
Sind. The military regime has bought tremendous hate redness from the mass=
es
by obliging to the conditional ties of IMF and World Bank. That meant a
large-scale retrenchment of public sector and unprecedented price-hike. The
military has lost what it had gained =ECa sense of relief=EE by the masses =
when it
overthrew the unpopular authoritarian kingdom of Nawaz Sharif in October 99=
.
They have learned the hard way of the realities of running a crisis ridden
declining economy. The release of IMF loan installment last week had only =
let
the regime to breath a while when they heard of the formation of the new
alliance.

The military had been building its case against Nawaz Sharif as a corrupt
leader who have looted and plundered the state wealth on an unprecedented
manner. The so-called accountability process had produced thousands of page=
s
proving the corruption of Nawaz family. He was sentenced to seven-year
imprisonment in one such case. The whole justification of military take ov=
er
was that the ruling Muslim League has brought the country to near collapse
economically.

Nawaz was =ECthe criminal=EE among the whole range of =ECcriminal politicia=
n=EE
according to the military propaganda. But a weakened military regime took a=
n
internal refuge by getting rid of its main enemy by pardoning his sins and
sending him abroad. By this action, the whole process of accountability has
become a cruel joke. It was and will be seen as a tactic to prolong the
military regime. It was a bitter fact already that those =ECcorrupt=EE lead=
ers of
Muslim League who have advocated a compromise with the regime were never
touched buy the National Bureau of Accountability. But those with Nawaz Cam=
p
were arrested and cases were registered against them of corruption and
malpractices.

It seems that Nawaz Sharif will pay even a heavier price than the military
regime. He had been boosting till yesterday, a life long fight for the
restoration of democracy. His wife Kalsoom led a bitter struggle to kick th=
ose
out of the party who had suggested to compromise with the military regime. =
The
main contradiction with Shujaat clique was on the question of an alliance w=
ith
PPP. Kalsoom Nawaz boosted that an alliance with PPP with help to bring the
struggle for democracy closer. =ECThis is to launch a mss movement against =
the
regime,=EE she said several times.

Nawaz Sharif was in jail for over a year. The military was becoming more
unpopular day by day. The formation of ARD had raised the hopes of many as =
the
only alternative to the military regime. A momentum was building up for a
confrontation with the regime. The sudden capitulation of Nawaz Sharif will
give the military some more breathing space. But it is he and his Muslim
League that will bear the burden of unpopularity than any one else. Muslim
League can be termed as a traditional conservative party of the rich in
Pakistan. It has a long history of compromises with every ruling class and
military regime. Right from the British Imperialism to the present day
military regime, Muslim League has kept its uninterrupted record of
compromises and reconciliation instead of fighting back.

The capitulation of Nawaz Sharif has once again exposed the real nature of =
the
capitalist politicians in the colonial countries. They cannot put a real fi=
ght
for any rights. They cannot play any progressive role in achieving the goal=
s
of modernization of the society. They have not yet been able to end feudali=
sm
or achieved democratic rights, industrialization or a national unity in the
real sense. They are totally dependent on the mercy of Imperialism and on t=
he
army in case of Pakistan. Those who had hoped against hope that the capital=
ist
class will ever play a progressive role have been disappointed again and
again.

Leon Trotsky, a central leader of Bolshevik Revolution alongside with Vladi=
mir
Lenin had argued in his historic book, =ECthe theory of Permanent Revolutio=
n=EE
that the Russian capitalist class, because of its late entry onto the stage=
of
history, was too weak economically and politically, too much tied to the ol=
d
land relations and too subservient to its stronger international competitor=
s,
to lead the revolution in Russia. So was the case thousand times more corre=
ct
in case of Pakistan and other ex colonial countries. The examples of Bhotto=
,
Benazir and now Nawaz Sharif bring this historic conclusion that the ruling
class is unable to solve any of the basic problems of the working class. Th=
ey
in fact pave the way for brutal military regimes to take over power again a=
nd
again.

=ECDo not trust the rich politician=EE will be the main lesson that working=
class
has to learn once again by this whole drama. The working class has to build=
a
party of the workers by themselves. No one else apart from himself or herse=
lf
has to create and build a mass party that is capable of fighting the ongoin=
g
military control of the state.

In the days to come, the military will be boosting that any politician who
will dare to fight with them will be subjected to such humiliation as Nawaz
has undergone by this deal. =ECNo one can challenge the supremacy of milita=
ry=EE
will be the main lesson that military will want us to believe. But it will =
not
be a dirty deal of any rich corrupt politician that will strengthen the
military. It will be object conditions that will determine the fate of the
present military regime. Subject factors cannot alter the path of history. =
It
is weak economy with no prospect of picking up that will make sure that
despite the betrayal of Nawaz Sharif, the military regime will not last lon=
g.
It cannot repeat the history of decade of military rules, as was the case o=
f
General Ayub Khan in the sixties or Zia ul Hague in the Eighties.

The dirty deal has made the life of Nawaz family and the military regime to=
at
some ease not the lives of millions who spend their days in utmost poverty.
This fact will remain the crucial deciding factor when we have to discuss t=
he
future of the military regime. The dirty deal is a temporary blow for the
recently formed ARD. But it will pick up some support if PPP does not repea=
t
the same history. The husband of Benazir Bhotto is in jail for the last fou=
r
years. If PPP make a same dirty deal for the release of Asif Zardari, it ca=
n
loose another opportunity to pick some of its lost support in the days to
come.

Labour Party Pakistan has opposed the military regime form the day one. It =
will
continue its campaign for the restoration of democracy linking it with the
need to change the capitalist system with a genuine democratic socialism.

_____

#5.

[12 December 2000]

Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party
13 Fane Road, Opposite Punjab Bar Council, Samiullah Chambers, Third
Floor, Lahore.

Lahore (press release).

Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party Punjab President Syed Azeem and Secretary
Taimur Rahman in their collective statement strongly condemn the attack on
RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan). Such attacks
are only possible with the complicity of the establishment. Such an act
can only be described as a barbaric act against women and every respectful
person hangs his/her head in shame. The Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party
demands that organizations such as the one that attack women in broad
daylight should be outlawed. Furthermore, those individuals involved in
the attack against RAWA should be punished severely.

____________________=20=20

Statement from RAWA=20=20

Dear supporter,

RAWA rally was attacked by Afghan and Pakistani fundamentalists at
Islamabad today.

Many were injured and some of them seriously. And they have been
hospitalized. Some male RAWA's supporters were also critically injured and
at least 17 persons in the police custody. Some women are missing. More
IMPORTANTLY a cameraman of RAWA has been arrested by the said
fundamentalists and his whereabouts is not known. Needless to say his life
is in serious danger.

For the moment, we URGENTLY ask you:

Urge the government of Pakistan to probe into the matter and give a
guarantee to save the life of the cameraman and get him released from the
hands of the attackers.

You may contact the following authorities:

Mr Naim Khan Durrani, Afghan Commissioner, Peshawar
Fax: 0092-91-9217076.

Lt. General (Retired) Iftikhar Hussain Shah, Governor of NWFP
Fax: 0092-91-9210751 or 0092-91-9210899

Mr. Abdus Sattar, Foreign minister
Fax: 0092-51-9207217

Lt. Gen.(R) Moin-ud-din Haider, Interior minister
Fax: 0092-51-9202642

Chief Executive
General Parviz Musharraf
CE@p...
Fax: + 92 51 922 4768

Pakistan embassy in Washington DC
parepwashington@e...

Will let you know about any development later.

Kindest regards,
Mehmooda

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
Mailing Address: RAWA, P.O.Box 374, Quetta, Pakistan
Mobile: 0092-300-551638
Fax: 001-760-2819855
E-mails: <mailto:rawa@r...>rawa@r..., rawa@i...
Home Page: http://www.rawa.org
Mirror site: http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/ra_wa/index.html

______________________________________________
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citizens wire service run by South Asia Citizens Web
(http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex) since 1996.
Dispatch archive from 1998 can be accessed
at http://www.egroups.com/messages/act/
////////////////////////////////////

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