[sacw] SACW | 28 Dec. 00

[Harsh Kapoor]

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

#1. Najam Sethi on Kashmir Ceasfire
#2. SAARC People's Summit Blurs Borders
#3. India: Dont Mix Myth with History says Amartya Sen
#4. India: BJP issues Temple Bible for cadre
#5. India: BJP Hops upon the Ayodhya plank
#6. India: Fanatics Know No Human Rights - Violence against women
#7. India: The Hindu Right Issues a 'Fatwa' against New Year revelries
#8. Latest issue of India Pakistan Arms Race & Militarisation Watch (No.30)

--------

#1.

Rediff.com
27 December 2000
Will This peace initiative have a different fate ?

NAJAM SETHI ON KASHMIR CEASEFIRE

India's "peace offensive" in Kashmir has solicited Pakistani reciprocity
and stirred the imagination of concerned people everywhere. Indeed, in
many ways, the current media optimism is building up to that preceding the
Lahore Summit in 1999. It is therefore worth asking whether the fate of
this initiative might be any different from the one two years ago and what
this might imply for Indo-Pak relations and political change in Pakistan.

Both countries and the third party seem "flexible" enough. The Hizbul
Mujahideen offered the first ceasefire last July. Islamabad did not oppose
it. Then India responded by one of its own last month. The HM and APHC
welcomed it. Islamabad reciprocated by "exercising maximum restraint along
the LoC"-a euphemism for "reducing cross-border infiltration", a long-time
Indian demand. India extended the ceasefire for another month. It has now
promised to facilitate a visit of Kashmiri politicians to Islamabad for
discussions with Pakistan's national security establishment.

Islamabad has consequently gestured a reduction of troops along the LoC.
India may follow suit. A meeting between General Pervez Musharraf and Mr
Atal Bihari Vajpayee in a month or so would set the stage for a thaw all
round. What then?

Consider the burden of history-or more precisely, how many times since the
Kashmiris rose up in revolt against India in 1989 the leaders of India and
Pakistan have painstakingly arrived at exactly such a juncture, only to
slip further back into hostilities after each such encounter.

In 1989, Benazir Bhutto and Rajiv Gandhi agreed in Islamabad not only to
demilitarise Siachen but also to sign significant cultural and political
protocols. Next year, however, Mr Gandhi went back on his word. By April
1990, the two countries were on the brink of war, compelling Robert Gates,
a senior US intermediary, to rush to the region and cool down tempers.

It took four years, and a change of two governments apiece in both
countries, before a new round of foreign-secretary level talks could
materialise in Islamabad on January 1, 1994. But the two day meet was cut
short because the two protagonists couldn't even agree on which issues to
take up in what manner. Subsequently, the various Islamic lashkars and
jihadi organisations supported by Pakistan stepped up their assaults on
Indian security forces and their civilian supporters.

Prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Inder Kumar Gujral met three years later,
in 1997, in Male. This was followed by foreign-secretary level talks in
Islamabad in September. A "historic breakthrough" was announced. India
acknowledged that there was a "dispute" over Kashmir; Pakistan agreed to
form several working groups, including one on Kashmir, for simultaneous
discussions on all outstanding issues (Pakistan's all-or-nothing, "core"
issue approach was diluted in exchange for an implicit recognition by the
other side that Kashmir was not an "integral part of India"). However, Mr
Gujral was faced with an election in 1998 and reneged on his agreement.

The BJP now bounded into power, India conducted nuclear tests and provoked
Pakistan into tit-for-tat nuclear blasts, upping the ante. If India had at
every stage backtracked upon an agreement with Pakistan to start smoking
the peace pipe by talking about Kashmir, it was now time for Pakistan to
square the ante and try to extract a deal from India. The Kargil blueprints
were dusted off the shelves in late 1998 and plans were initiated to take
advantage of the winter snows, exactly as the Indians had done in the
winter of 1984 when they silently scaled the heights of Siachen in no-man's
land along the LoC. However, unaware of what the Pakistani security
establishment had in store, Mr Vajpayee was readying by year's end to take
the bus to Lahore in February 1999.

The "progress" in Lahore was quite unprecedented from India's point of
view. Pakistan ostensibly dropped the "core" issue approach. Kashmir
became one of the "outstanding" disputes along with several others and the
LoC became a sacred cow. It seemed as though we had come full circle to
1972 when the Simla Agreement was signed to bury Kashmir. But before the
fruits of Lahore could be digested by New Delhi, the Pakistani national
security establishment trumped the process in Kargil in May.

Unfortunately for the Pakistani hawks, however, the Indians didn't react
as anticipated. Instead of exchanging Siachen for Kargil and strengthening
the Lahore process of equitable disengagement, New Delhi hit back and a
full-fledged conflict erupted on the border. Soon thereafter, Nawaz Sharif
sued for mediation by Washington on Indian terms. This led to tensions
between Mr Sharif and the principal military architects of Kargil led by
General Musharraf. In the event, Mr Sharif's attempted sacking of General
Musharraf and two key Kargil players in Pindi in October 1999 led to a coup
against him, plunging Pakistan into its third military phase.

In short, every attempt by India to impose a settlement on Kashmir has
been followed by increased Pakistan-abetted insurgency in the valley, by
enhanced India-controlled terrorism in urban Pakistan, by the threat of
war or, in the last instance, by war itself. In addition, Benazir Bhutto
and Nawaz Sharif have, in turns, been tarred by the brush of being
"pro-India"-the former lost office in 1990 partly because the national
security establishment saw her as a "security" risk vis a vis India while
the latter was booted out in 1999 because he chose to challenge the same
national security establishment over how to deal with Kashmir and India.

Meanwhile, shorn of its mainstream civilian supporters, Pakistan's
national security establishment has progressively nurtured an ally of
increasing power and belligerence-the rabidly anti-India, militant Islamic
jihadi forces which are ready to do its bidding in the region.

The current situation is marked by extreme volatility in the ranks of two
of the three key players- Pakistan and Kashmir. India, on the other hand,
is happily placed. Having tried and failed on so many earlier occasions to
negotiate a solution with Pakistan bilaterally which enables it to impose a
deal on the Kashmiris, India has now chosen to try the opposite route:
negotiate a solution with the Kashmiris and impose a deal on Pakistan with
multilateral approval. Also, there is no internal threat to the BJP.
Indeed, it has the support of the leading Opposition parties in its "peace
offensive". The international community is on board. Its economy is
healthy. And its defence budgets are soaring.

On the other side, the Kashmiris are fatigued by war. Divisions are
emerging within the ranks of the politicians as well as between the
politicians and the militants. The prospects of peace as opposed to war,
coupled with some sort of internationally-guaranteed peace dividend short
of full-fledged independence, are beginning to appeal to many. If this
seems to be a "pro-India sentiment", it could potentially translate into
civil war or internecine conflict in Kashmir if it is opposed by Pakistan.

Pakistan's position is quite problematic. Its military government lacks
domestic and international legitimacy. The mainstream Opposition wants to
overthrow it. The bazaar is set against it. The economy is in a shambles.
Worse, in the absence of civil society support, the military government is
held hostage by the very radical Islamic groups and jihadi forces that were
nurtured by it to advance its aggressive "national security" causes. Much
worse, certain hawks in the national security establishment see the
present stage of the Kashmir struggle as the apotheosis of their strategy
rather than as its downside. Thus General Musharraf is damned if he does
and damned if he doesn't.

If General Musharraf doesn't adopt a moderate stance vis a vis Kashmir and
balks at supporting the indigenous peace process launched by India, the
international community could isolate and cut him off. If he becomes too
flexible, the hawks in his camp could try to derail the peace process by
signaling increased violence in Kashmir and elsewhere in India. Indeed, if
all else fails, the radical Islamic groups in the country could band
together and try to oust him from power. The leader of the fundamentalist
Jamaat I Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, has already called General Musharraf a
"security risk" and asked the generals to sack him because he seems
amenable to the peace process.

Other such Islamic groups could subsequently get into the act. For
instance, the Tanimul Akhwan, a radical Islamic group led by retired army
officers, has marshalled 30,000 supporters 100 miles from Islamabad and is
threatening to march to Islamabad to pressurise the government to impose
Islamic Shariah and extend the jihad in Kashmir. In the event that General
Musharraf is perceived by such forces as "weak" or seen to succumb to
Indian or international pressure to make an "unjust" settlement with India
which amounts to "abandoning" Kashmir, the very national security
establishment which he has helped to create could devour him. And there is
no doubt in my mind that a radicalised Islamic national security
leadership in Islamabad would provoke India into a conflict with Pakistan.

The issue therefore should not be one of peace at any cost. It should be
of a just settlement on Kashmir which paves the way for enduring peace in
the region. If India is seen to lack in sincerity or if the Indian
government is unable to keep its word, as on several occasions in the past,
the desperate deadlock can only be broken by war. That would be a greater
tragedy than the one India and Pakistan are currently seeking to undo.

Najam Sethi edits the Pakistan weekly, Friday Times.

_____

#2.

The Telegraph
28 December 2000

SAARC PEOPLE SUMMIT BLURS BARRIERS=20
=
=20
FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT=20=20=20=20
New Delhi, Dec 27: There were no government representatives at this
Saarc conference: only activists and non-government organisations from
five countries-India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

The second conference of the Saarc Peoples Forum met in Kathmandu to
discuss an issue of growing importance in the region: food security and
trafficking in women and children.

The future of Saarc seemed uncertain following an indefinite postponement
of its summit originally scheduled to have been held two months ago in
Nepal, which hosted the People's Forum conference.

"We do not know what is the future of Saarc," said the speakers. But they
were determined to keep this forum of people-to-people contact alive. The
governments are sparring but the people are ready to share their
experiences and shake hands. Their main concern is to rein in unbridled
globalisation that they believe is eroding people's livelihood, driving
the marginalised across the borders of one nation to another.

The People's Forum has asked its governments to see the "critical
connection" between food security and trafficking in women and children
and ensure food security to lessen the vulnerability of women and
children.

Though the People's Forum is yet to gather data on the link between
globalisation and an increase in trafficking, the grassroots participants
said there could be no doubt of a correspondence between the two.

According to Ubinig, an NGO in Bangladesh, it is not just prostitution
that fuels and sustains trafficking.

"The use to which the trafficked persons are put depends on the
exploitative global trading system and its supply and demand trends," said
the Ubinig.

The speakers said the lure of profit could lie in the sale to brothels,
adoption homes, camel jockeys, forced marriage and domestic and bonded
labour. But this, they insisted, must not be used to restrict the mobility
of women. The governments of Nepal and Bangladesh recently barred women
from seeking employment abroad.

Hard-hitting statistics were revealed at the Saarc People's Forum. In the
last 10 years, more than 20,00,000 women were illegally transported. An
average of 45,000 women and children are smuggled to Pakistan every year.

"The traffickers are using India and Pakistan as their route to the UAE
and other countries," said the Ubinig.

The spiralling graph of trafficking has made governments sit up, but there
are no easy solutions with the marginalised and the poor thrown on the
sidelines of the economy.

"Why did the governments put off the Saarc meeting? They must cooperate on
these issues," asked Farida Akhter of the Ubinig.

Natasha from Bangladesh had carried out a study on the status of
Bangladeshis and Nepalis in India which showed that most of the women were
sold to brothels while others worked as domestic help or rag pickers.

The last conference of the People's Forum was held in Colombo two years a=
go.

"Our main objective is to foster close cooperation among the countries so
that we can make a difference to the lives of the people," said the
organisers.

_____

#3.

India Network News Digest - December 27, 2000

DONT MIX MYTH WITH HISTORY: Amartya Sen

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Renowned Economist Amartya Sen on Wednesday cautioned
the people of the country about the danger of mixing myth with history.

Any attempt to provide religious and mythological interpretation to facts
of history should be resisted, Sen said here while addressing the
inaugural function of a conference on 'Kerala's development towards a new
agenda'.

Stating that pluralistic society was under threat in the country, Sen said
"do not mix myth with history". Rather than tolerence, targetting at
minority was now dominating the political agenda and this had to be
resisted, he said.

Referring to the progress made in education in Kerala, Sen said
progressive radical movements that fought against the then prevailing
casteism and other social evils played a vital role in laying a strong
foundation.

Though Bengal and Kerala had a strong presence of the Left, the radical
change in education that took place in Kerala did not occur in Bengal, he
said adding in Bengal, elementary education was not given much importance.

Sen said private sector could contribute a lot for the progress of
education in the country.

Stating that there were many reasons for the poor growth of elementary
education, he said lack of funds was the major one.

He said with the money he received from nobel prize, he had set up
education trusts, one in India and another in Bangladesh, with the main
objective of imparting basic education to the needy.

With the kind of basic education and high university education in Kerala,
he said, the state should be in the forefront of it education as the world
was moving fast towards an information technology era. But, the state was
far behind in this field when compared to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, he
said.

He said women's literacy rate was about 3 per cent in the traditional
Kerala society during 1905 and with the formation of the state in 1957, it
increased to 41 per cent and was now moving towards achieving the goal of
100 per cent.

The conference was jointly organised by the Institute of Social Sciences,
New Delhi and Centre for Socio-economic and Environment Studies, Kochi and
sponsored by Unicef.

_____

#4.

The Telegraph
27 December 2000

BJP TEMPLE BIBLE FOR CADRE=20
=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20
=
=20
FROM RADHIKA RAMASESHAN=20=20=20=20
New Delhi, Dec. 26: Determined to stoke the embers of the Ayodhya
debate, an aggressive BJP has decided to release a booklet on the Ram
mandir debate in the just-concluded winter session of Parliament to give
"talking points" to its cadre.

The booklet will contain speeches made by BJP leaders, including Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, and some pro-temple NDA alliance members
during the debate that followed a Congress-sponsored censure motion in both
Houses.

The objective of the exercise is to "expose the facts before the people
and let them decide whether the Congress and Leftist attack on us is
justified or not", said BJP spokesman Jana Krishnamurthy.

The booklet is expected to be released during the BJP national executive
on January 4 and 5. Krishnamurthy said the first edition will either
reproduce entire speeches or selected excerpts in their original form
without translation. The state units, he added, would be asked to
translate them for the benefit of members not conversant with English or
Hindi.

Though a decision on which addresses would be carried is yet to be taken,
BJP sources said the Prime Minister's speech was expected to be reproduced
in toto as well as those given by law minister Arun Jaitley and information
and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj.

Among the allies, the BJP has made up its mind to knock out speeches by
Trinamul leaders Mamata Banerjee and Sudip Bandhopadhyay as well as those
by the Telugu Desam MPs. These speakers had condemned the Babri masjid
demolition unequivocally and urged Vajpayee to remain committed to the
national agenda for governance, which does not include the Ram temple
construction.

BJP sources indicated that submissions by Samata Party leader George
Fernandes and MDMK chief Vaiko would find pride of place in the booklet.
Fernandes had almost echoed the RSS' view of how Muslims in Indonesia were
proud of their ancestry being traced to Rama and Sita and spoke of how his
mentor, Ram Manohar Lohia, had organised Ram melas.

Along with a "certificate of endorsement" from Fernandes, a Christian, the
other "minority viewpoint" of the BJP's lone Muslim minister, Syed
Shahnawaz Hussain, is also expected to be played up. Hussain had sought to
lay the blame for the demolition squarely at the Congress' doorstep. He
raised many uncomfortable questions like who was in power in the Centre
and in Uttar Pradesh when the mosque doors were unlocked in 1986 and when
the shilanyas was performed in 1989.

Asked why the BJP was keen to keep the mandir-masjid debate alive after
accusing the Congress of raking it up in the winter session, sources
claimed the booklet was a "response" to the demands of several activists
to "enlighten" them on the House debate. "They said that as the debate was
not televised, they did not know what happened and who said what. The
regional papers had condensed the speeches," sources said.

Krishnamurthy, however, clarified that the booklet would not replicate
Vajpayee's controversial statements outside Parliament.

_____

#5.

tehelka.com

BJP JETTISONS NAGPUR MESSAGE, HOPS UPON AYODHYA PLANK

Bangaru Laxman: his Nagpur message line has been quietly erased

The lakshman-rekha drawn by BJP president Bangaru Laxman for the Sangh
Parivar has been quietly erased and the Nagpur message line has been
given a quiet burial, says Venkat Parsa

New Delhi, December 26

It was a mother of all turnarounds. Virtually jettisoning the historical
Nagpur message, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has apparently
opted to hitch onto the Ayodhya issue. The BJP, which completed its 20
years on April 6, has come a long way. Reverting to the Ayodhya issue, the
BJP is trying out the "tried, tested and trusted" plank of the BJP.

The lakshman-rekha drawn by BJP president Bangaru Laxman for the Sangh
Parivar has been quietly erased. The Nagpur message line has been given a
quiet burial. The BJP has consciously opted for the Ayodhya plank to
sail through the ensuing assembly elections. Ayodhya is being seen as the
ideological mascot of the BJP, which would have an all-India appeal. It
may set the tone for the BJP's countrywide election campaign.

The BJP, founded on April 6,1980, under the leadership of Atal Behari
Vajpayee, attempted a policy document recently, when it formally adopted
the Chennai Declaration. Soon after, the party followed it up with the
Nagpur message. Recently, the BJP carried out a campaign on the Nagpur
message. But it is now set to turn its back on it. If the Chennai
Declaration was an attempt to modernise its image, as a party preparing
itself for the tasks of governance, the Nagpur message was meant to
moderate the face of the BJP.

The dichotomy lay between precept and practice as Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee's "homecoming" to the RSS HQ in Nagpur in August took
place, with BJP President Bangaru Laxman spelling out his by now famous
"flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood" line

The BJP made bold to emerge trumps on several issues. These included the
party's attempt to win over the Muslims; its cherished ambition to
achieve a breakthrough on the vexed Kashmir issue; and its bid to play
up its swadeshi card, as a counterpoint to globalisation.

The commemorative year, however, saw the ruling party turn its back on
its ideological positions. Flaunting "ideology as the major strength"
initially-as Union Home Minister L K Advani remarked in his address to
the BJP in Nagpur in August-

the party finally ended up saying that "pragmatism" and not "ideology,"
was the need of the hour.

In the process, the BJP has lost out on its USP-'the party with a
difference'. Now, it has virtually reneged on its decisions both to
modernise and moderate its image. The BJP decided to do it in style. Even
by jettisoning its own ideology, if the blueprint so warranted.

Apparently, considerable energy was devoted to debating ways and means of
expanding not only the organisational but also the geographic and the
social base of the BJP. There was an internal assessment. It revealed that
the BJP, which had been consistently registering an electoral expansion,
steadily from 1989, through 1991, 1996 and 1998, had hit a plateau in the
general elections in 1999. Ever since, the effort has been on expanding
the electoral base of the party.

Perhaps, it was this dichotomy that explains the chasm, between its
precept and practice. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's "homecoming"
to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) headquarters in Nagpurin
August took place, even as newly-installed BJP President Bangaru Laxman
was spelling out his by now famous "flesh of our flesh and blood of our
blood" line at the BJP National Council meeting in Nagpur.

An all-out bid to embrace Muslims-going by the new theme picked up from
the Nagpur message-clearly with an eye on upcoming elections, proved
abortive. Prime Minister Vajpayee's controversial remarks on the Ram
temple as an expression of "national sentiment" on the floor of Parliament
proved quite an anti-climax. It put the clock back on the BJP's plans.

The BJP is now preparing to return to the original plank and trying to
build up the tempo on the Ram temple issue. The issue has an emotive
potential, especially in the heartland of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal,
where assembly elections are due next year and minority votes are divided.

_____

#6.

The Hindu
28 December 2000

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

By Kuldip Nayar

FANATICS KNOW no human rights. And they cross every limit when the state
is on their side. This is what happened in Karpanic, near Ranchi, where
teachers belonging to the Sisters of St. Anna's Congregation were
assaulted. One cook was raped. Authorities are trying to cover up the
crime. The medical report has been doctored, says Sister Anupa. She
recalls how three men raped the young cook repeatedly and then dumped her
in a bathroom.

``Instead of nabbing the criminals, the entire administrative machinery
is out to bury the incident'', says Sister Anupa. The school has been
closed. She asks sadly: ``What is the use of our working among the poor
when they themselves do not appreciate what we are doing?'' The students,
primarily Adivasis, have nowhere to go. In fact, the situation is so grim
that nobody dares to go to the place where the school flourished at one
time.

That the missionaries are hapless victims of a dastardly plan which
certain forces have hatched to make the Christians feel insecure goes
without saying. These forces are satisfied that they have `disciplined'
Muslims. ``It is the Christians' turn,'' they say openly. It is difficult
to believe that such persons are important in a country which is proud of
its secular credentials. The Government is used to hushing up such cases
whenever they are reported. Frankly speaking, when it comes to the
minorities, particularly women, the state machinery is callous and
collusive.

Take the sordid story of excesses against widows at Varanasi. Not long
ago, a woman director wanted to show their sad plight through a film,
Water. Hers was an indictment of the Hindu society which had come to
accept that a widow was an outcast, deserving of a marginal existence.
Even when she and her cast were driven out by goondas from Varanasi, the
director did not give up. It was a mission for her. She changed the venue,
decided to shoot the film in Sri Lanka and persuaded a private TV network
to finance her. But the Uttar Pradesh Government, more so its Minister for
Tourism, Mr. Asok Yadav, got wind of her plan and once again held out
threats to her. The result: the project has been abandoned. In a
television interview, Mr. Yadav proudly said the other day that he did not
allow the shooting of Water because it was against the Indian culture.

Who is he or, for that matter, his Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, who
has banned beauty contests in the State, to define Indian culture? (The
RSS has said honeymoon and the wedding cake impinge on the Indian
culture). In any case, what do they know about culture? Their attitude can
be judged from their support to the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
Whatever else he may have done, Mr. Yadav has blatantly violated the human
rights of millions of people, not allowing them to see a film which
touched their life. The talented artists, Ms. Nandita Das and Ms. Shabana
Azmi, braved all indignities heaped on them at Varanasi and had their
heads shaven to be able to give a realistic account of the plight of those
women, whose life was worse than death. Indeed, Mr. Yadav should have at
least been hauled up before court for having denied the two the freedom of
expression, which the Constitution guarantees.

The BJP-led Governments in Lucknow and New Delhi are in league to keep
from public gaze the treatment meted out to widows by the Hindu society.
It is their way of denying the evil. It is their way of upholding culture.
How does this help the Hindu society which is so complacent? It needs to
be exposed.

The BJP-ruled Gujarat has its own way of focussing on culture.
Socialisation of women into subordinate positions, male patriarchy and
domestic violence. A recent study conducted in some rural areas in the
State shows that two-thirds of women suffer some form of psychological,
physical or sexual abuse. As many as 42 per cent of them have been beaten
up. A study in Tamil Nadu puts the figure at between 36 and 38 per cent.
The percentage goes up to 42 to 45 in Uttar Pradesh. Eighteen to 45 per
cent of married men in the State acknowledge that they have physically
abused their wives.

A letter, which I have received from the International Centre for
Research on Women, says that in a multi-site survey of nearly 10,000 rural
and urban households, approximately 50 per cent of the women have reported
experiencing some form of violent behaviour within marriage. Of these, 65
per cent women reported severe physical abuse, including being kicked, hit
or beaten up. The data at the National Crimes Record Bureau, Home
Ministry, reveal a shocking 71.5 per cent increase in cases of torture and
dowry deaths from 1991 to 1995.

A special cell in Mumbai, established by the Police Commissioner to
provide a range of support services to women and their families, says 43
per cent of women put up with domestic violence from the age of three to
17, before complaining to the police. The records also indicate that 6.2
per cent of women attempted suicide before seeking outside help.

The fate of women elsewhere is no different. Globally, violence within
home is universal across culture, religion, class and ethnicity. Such
violence, however, is not customarily acknowledged. It is considered a
problem unworthy of legal or political attention. The social structure of
the divide between the public and the private underlies the hidden nature
of domestic violence against women. Legal jurisprudence has historically
considered the domain of the house within the control and unquestionable
authority of the male head.

Thus, acts of violence against members of the household, whether wife or
child, are perceived as part of discipline, essential to maintain the rule
of authority within the family.

No doubt, women activists have brought the matter to the fore. They have
organised demonstrations against dowry or other deaths. An examination of
court records between 1986 and 1997 in Karnataka alone confirms that
domestic violence cases, unless linked to dowry harassment, are difficult
to establish under the present rules of evidence.

The International Centre for Research on Women believes that a
comprehensive legislation is essential to provide immediate protection to
women. It thinks that legislation covering various points will usher in a
peaceful society, free of violence against women, and develop a
comprehensive approach to reduce violence. Of particular concern is the
report on Muslim women. But if the attitude of the public is to be
changed-this is a must from any point of view-mere legislation will not
do. There are numerous laws to deal with domestic violence but they fail
to curb the evil because what happens at home is viewed as a private
matter. Even the best of human rights activists are considered outsiders.

Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, former member of the National Commission for
Women, has brought out an excellent report, Voice of the Voiceless. It
tells about the status of Muslim women in India, a subject rarely
discussed. She says: ``Muslim women are the weakest link in the generally
disempowered chain of Indian womanhood.''

Syeda has held hearings from Ahmedabad in Gujarat to Tezpur in Assam and
from Kerala to Kashmir. Testimony after testimony has shown that their
(Muslim women) low status in every sphere of life is because of the men
who have pushed them into stereotype roles of earners, carers, bearers of
children and beasts of burden. The negligence is also attributed to the
inefficacy of state-sponsored schemes and the lack of will on the part of
the Government to make them work. Illiteracy, ignorance, male domination
and traditional beliefs have proved the major roadblocks to the progress
of a majority of the Muslim women.

The report points out that ``the increase of communalism and the large
number of attacks on the lives and properties of minorities are cause for
deep sorrow.'' Syeda explains that such incidents are a blot on the fair
name of our country. Her inference is that the rioting is deliberately
triggered by militant communal elements ``who do not hesitate to sacrifice
the strength and security of the country for their own narrow, nefarious
ends.'' Will the BJP-led Government at the Centre pay heed?

_____

#7.

The Times of India
28 December 2000

RSS NOW TARGETS NEW YEAR REVELRIES

The Times of India News Service and PTI

NEW DELHI: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Wednesday came down heavily
on New Year revelries, saying there should be a ban on the celebrations to
welcome ``the Christian New Year.''

Such a step could go a long way in boosting the morale of the country,
the RSS media cell-Vishwa Samvad Kendra-said in a statement here, adding
it was necessary when the country's security was under threat.

Referring to Prime Minister Vajpayee's announcement of extension of
ceasefire, the statement said despite the Centre's peace initiatives,
incidents like storming the Red Fort were taking place and emphasised the
need for pro-active steps to fight the menace of terrorism.

It welcomed Uttar Pradesh chief minister Rajnath Singh's decision to ban
beauty contests, saying it would discourage consumerism.

KANPUR: The Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad imposed a ban on
Valentine's Day functions here. The Hindu Jagran Manch, another frontal
organisation of the RSS, has warned that it would oppose New Year parties
and functions. Activists of the Manch on Tuesday warned they would not
hesitate to resort to violence to disrupt New Year-eve functions in Kanpur=
.

Media in-charge of the Manch, Arvind Singh, justified the ban on beauty
contests in UP, but lamented that the ``chief minister's orders are not
being properly implemented by the local administration=8A So we are forced
to deal with the situation in our own way.''

He said vulgarity was being promoted among the youth by the anti-Hindu
lobby in the name of New Year functions. Gatherings of girls and boys in
restaurants are hurting Indian culture. He warned restaurant and
hotel-owners to stop ``love birds'' from using their premises or face
their ire.

Singh said the Hindu Jagran Manch will launch its campaign against
westernisation and vulgarity. Asked how he would impose the ban on New
Year parties, he said, ``We will disconnect electricity of clubs and
restaurants, if necessary. We may stop the music in party halls=8A We have
many ways to stop people from attending the New Year functions.''

Hindu Jagran Manch activists also said they had identified some
restaurants here which charge additional money to allow young ``couples''
to spend time inside. They said they would punish the owners of these
restaurants and appealed to parents to maintain a watch on their sons and
daughters.

On Valentine's Day in February, ABVP activists indulged in violence in
many restaurants here and later recommended shalin pahnawa (proper dress)
for girls and women. They felt western dress styles inspired boys to
commit crime against women. As a result, many colleges imposed a dress
code for girls.

And now, yet another agitation by yet another self-appointed saviour of
the Hindu culture is likely to impinge on the freedom of the people.

_______

#8.

ANNOUNCEMENT !

The latest issue of 'India Pakistan Arms Race & Militarisation Watch' (No.3=
0)
is now available: http://www.egroups.com/group/IPARMW

______________________________________________
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
at http://www.egroups.com/messages/act/
////////////////////////////////////
Disclaimer: opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily correspond to views of SACW compilers.