[sacw] SACW | 26 Feb. 02

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire - Dispatch | 26 February 2002

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

#1. American policies in and about South Asia (M.B. Naqvi)
#2. Text of Sri Lanka truce deal
#3. India: Hinduism's Political Resurgence (Pankaj Mishra)
#4. India: 'Loving' to Hate (Ram Puniyani)
#5. UK: Stop The War Demonstration 2nd March (Asian Women Unite! &=20
South Asia Solidarity Group)
#6. India-Nepal People's Solidarity Forum Public Meeting (26 Feb. , New Del=
hi)
#7. Heir To A Silent Song: Two Rebel Women of Nepal (Barbara Nimri Aziz)
#8. 'India, Pak need permanent peace'
#9. UK: Teach-in at UCL (3 March, London)

________________________

#1.

American policies in and about South Asia
M.B. Naqvi

Karachi February 22:

It is strange that few observers in Islamabad and New Delhi care to take
a holistic view of the American policies in and about South Asia and go
on to relate it to the American world view and its role. Most comment in
Islamabad and the rest of the country is obsessed with the growth of
US-Indian strategic partnership, especially the quantum and nature of
the military hardware being sold to India. Foreign office here has cried
foul: these sales will start an arms race because Pakistan will have to
beg, borrow or steel to offset these accretions to Indian arsenals.

Foreign media have reports that official India is gravely concerned with
the growth and flowering of US-Pakistan relationship that was
increasingly being described by American officials as strategic in
nature. Longer-term effects of the rehabilitation of Pakistan into
American scheme of things are being minutely studied by India=92s populous
community of strategic thinkers, mainstream thinkers, that is. There is
an undercurrent of unease if not an alarm in India. Deep down it is the
same old zero sum game that the Americans are at pains to exorcise in
both countries.

Insofar as the US is concerned, it can, and intends to, treat both
countries as parallel lines that need never meet. America has plenty of
experience in befriending rival states in many parts of the globe. If
any one has the time and patience to pick up history book to see how
American foreign policy has worked in Central and South Americas over at
least two centuries, it will yield a useful insight. The current example
of managing two embattled sets of states is provided by the American
policies in Middle East since the end of Second World War, especially
after the Suez War. This model is likely to serve in managing India and
Pakistan.

Opinion in Pakistan=92s establishment --- except the very top, euphoric
echelon --- is that Pakistan has been added to the circle of America=92s
friends on probation. It is likely to remain there so long as it behaves
in accordance with American wishes. The Americans have recently acquired
new levers to keep it on the straight and narrow. Come to think of it,
it has done the same vis-=E0-vis India by selling dual use technology and
regulating the quantum of investments in subtle ways.

The American terms that Musharraf regime is required to adhere to and
indeed to go on implementing were admirably summed up by American
Senator Biden. He grouped them under for heads: the first was the
restoration of democracy (in time). The second he mentioned was the
October polls to be free and transparent. The third concerned the
Musharraf=92s new plank of fighting Islamic extremism and to make Pakistan
modern and moderate Islamic country.

This third task involves a host of unpleasant duties: the most difficult
thing for him would be to draw the line between the moderate, modern
Islam and the whole phalanx of relatively new notions about Islam that
are abroad but which do originate in Islamic orthodox scholarship. This
latter group of versions are collectively being bumped together as
Islamic Fundamentalism or extremism. The Americans prefer to use the
term Terrorism to denote Islamic fanaticism and the Jihadi culture, best
typified by Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-i-Taiba and
the like.

Finally there is the most difficult condition is to apply the new
anti-terrorist approaches to Kashmir. As Shaikh Omar Saeed, the
mastermind in Daniel Pearl case, has been lecturing and warning his
interrogators in Karachi, there are thousands of Jihadis all over
Pakistan who are sworn to fight Indian military occupation in Kashmir.
They cannot be prevented from fighting India --- in Kashmir as well as
in India. These Jihadis are sure to turn against the Musharraf regime.
Let no one forget that the Musharraf government is a military regime and
not the government of a person. For Pakistani generals to contemplate a
possible war of attrition with the Jihadis they had themselves created
can only be frightening. This however is a most likely scenario to
unfold; Army=92s own discipline and unity will be at stake; the generals
are unlikely to go that far.

Insofar as can be ascertained, the Americans are serious about the
stoppage of Jihad in Kashmir. The Indian claim that all of this Jihad
owes itself to Pakistan is over pitched. This might have been true at
initial stages. Later a large number of Jihadi groups mushroomed because
of the easy collection of funds from the gullible and the acquiring of
respect and influence. There is now a large underworld of Jihadis
outfits with a typical culture an mind set of their own acting freelance
like knights in Medieval Europe. They are not under anyone=92s orders. The
Army only cultivated them and coordinated their efforts.

Insofar as Mr. Pervez Musharraf is concerned, his heart is supposed to
be in the right place; no one doubts his personal credentials to lead
the campaign against the Jihadis and the Jihadi culture. But that is
where the unqualified praise stops. Uncertainties take over from this
point on. Here the third and the forth conditions begin to coalesce.

Lately, Musharraf has been at pains to emphasise that Pakistan=92s is an
Islamic society, albeit modern and moderate. There is no extremism or
violence inherent in Islam. His vision of the Islamic society happens to
be in hundred per cent in conformity with the ideas of American area
experts and of men like Bush, Dick Cheny, Rumsfeld and the like. But
there is the little matter of what Pakistan Army has been doing for the
last thirty years; it has been encouraging what actually existed earlier
in isolated pockets.

This last was innumerable schools of Islamic orthodoxy that have
centuries of scholarship behind them. Historically, several centuries of
political servitude and the richly plural ambience of the Subcontinental
succeeded in evolving a passive and pacific kind of simultaneous
acceptance of all manner of extremist propositions. It is only during
the last fifty years and more, especially with the emergence of
Pakistan, that a new kind of Islamic Fundamentalism has emerged. It had
two main prospects: Hasan al-Bana and Abul Ala Maududi. Later the rise
of Ayatollah Khomeini made the fundamentalist movements grow into
tempestuous torrents in most Islamic countries ranging from Morocco to
Indonesia, with Pakistan as perhaps the General Headquarters of the
Islamic Revolution-to-be. Most orthodox schools soon aped the
fundamentalists and flaunted their own separate Revolutionary Islams.

The long and short of it is that what has been visible so far in
Pakistan may be more than a mere tip of an iceberg. But the bulk of the
force that had sustained various manifestations of it like the Jihad in
Kashmir, rise of Taliban and other less successful but persistent
eruptions in the Islamic world have still to be reckoned with. A Bush
might feel satisfied by bombing Afghanistan or any other country. But
course of history is not changed by bombs alone, whether they be Nine
Eleven or reducing Tora Bora tunnels to rubble. News ideas are required
to supplant the Taliban-like Fundamentalism. That is the way to fight
terrorism of all kinds.

For Musharraf-led Pakistan what is in prospect is a vista of profound
uncertainties of all kinds. More so as an election campaign impends. The
Jihadi and extremist forces may be regrouping and many think that are
sure to offer a challenge that the generals may not have the stomach to
face. Thanks to the ideological investments they have made in the
Kashmir Cause, the fight against Terrorism (extremism) in general may
thus be compromised. Most Pakistanis, as the voting record in the
country shows, will actively or passively side with moderate Islamic
modernisers; at any rate the common run of Pakistanis are not likely to
join and fight along side the extremist and Jihadis. In short, the
Jihadis can be contained and defeated by Authority, if only it has the
gumption to fight the menace.

Do the generals have it in them to be moderate modernisers? There is no
certainty. They have already made Musharraf in effect to start moving
backward --- but not yet decisively. Musharraf=92s latest emphasis on
basic Islamic character of Pakistan --- an obvious thing that needs no
emphasis --- and qualifying modernism for acceptance of only certain
parts may be the thin end of the wedge. The essential modernism to be
fully implemented is acceptance of the full range of human rights,
pluralism and tolerance of dissent. Pakistan needs to accept these
values --- a majority in fact does so in action --- and all can dispense
with all secondary matters.

Acceptance of the values of modernism cannot remain isolated; it has to
be extended to Kashmir and Kashmiris. Forcing anything down the throats
of the latter will not be possible now. Apart from the logic of events,
there are the Americans who seem to want (a) no violent insurgency in
Kashmir, (b) resumption of dialogue with India on more or less Indian
terms and (c) Islamabad to conduct the arms race with its neighbors
within the limits to be prescribed by the Pentagon. In order to achieve
these vital objectives, many analysts think that the US would waive the
insistence on both the restoration of democracy and the fairness of the
people. Indeed they might even agree to postpone both. Would the
generals cut such a lucrative deal? Though what happens then, to
moderate and modern Islam is anyone=92s guess.

______

#2.

BBC News
Friday, 22 February, 2002, 17:23 GMT
Text of Sri Lanka truce deal
Agreement on a ceasefire between the Government of the Democratic=20
Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil=20
Eelam

full text at :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1836000/1836198.st=
m

______

#3.

The New York Times
February 25, 2002
OP-ED

Hinduism's Political Resurgence

By PANKAJ MISHRA
Pankaj Mishra is author of ``The Romantics,'' a novel.

NEW DELHI -- A few weeks ago I was in Ayodhya, a North Indian pilgrimage
town. In 1992 a crowd of Hindu men demolished a 16th-century mosque in
Ayodhya. They claimed it had been built by the Mogul emperor Babur over
the birthplace of Lord Rama. India changed fast after that moment of Hindu
nationalist rage. The politicians who had led the crowd to the mosque that
morning and later watched their followers erect Hindu idols over the
rubble =97 and who for most of the 50 years since independence had been on
the political sidelines =97 now hold top positions in the Indian government=
.

Since the 1992 destruction, an enthusiasm for the free market has also
overtaken India, but the new middle- class affluence hasn't reached
Ayodhya. Down its monkey-infested alleyways, the richest people are still
Hindu abbots. One whom I met in Ayodhya was Ramchandra Paramhans, who
helped initiate, in 1950, the legal battle for the temple and who in the
early 1980's entered into an opportunistic alliance with Hindu nationalist
organizations then attempting to attract Hindu voters through an
explicitly anti- Muslim program.

Mr. Paramhans described to me, as he fed cows in his vast straw-littered
compound, how he had upbraided India's home minister, L. K. Advani, on the
phone that morning for having neglected the temple issue. In his white
dreadlocks and long beard, he seemed like a Hindu version of the
self-important mullahs I had met in Pakistan. But senior bureaucrats
really had traveled, a few weeks before, to his compound to mollify him
after he threatened to bring down the government. And a few days after my
visit to Ayodhya, Mr. Paramhans showed up in New Delhi at the head of a
heavily publicized procession of abbots to deliver personally a blunt
ultimatum to Prime Minister Behari Vajpayee.

I couldn't help but recall my meeting early last year with some prominent
Islamic clerics and politicians at an old madrasa near Peshawar, Pakistan.
The madrasa had become notorious after some of its alumni became the
leaders of the Taliban. Its teachers were keen to impress upon me the
apolitical nature of their work. I suspected they were dissembling, but I
was more struck by their defensiveness. It was as though they could sense
what has been confirmed since by the fundamentalists' failure to stir up
trouble for Pervez Musharraf: that public opinion overwhelmingly opposes
the fanatical ideologies that have undermined Pakistan in every way. It is
this strong anti-extremist sentiment that General Musharraf now relies on
=97 much more than American support =97 in his crackdown on militant groups
and his more discreet confrontations with the ideologues given high places
by the previous military ruler, Mohammad Zia ul- Haq.

While General Musharraf strives toward a secular polity, the ruling
politicians of India head in the opposite direction. Hindu nationalists
have long exalted Hindutva, or Hindu-ness, over the secular identities
proposed for India by Gandhi and Nehru. So now the federal minister for
education, Murli Manohar Joshi, promotes a new Indian history that
highlights the depredations of Muslim invaders (as they are called) and
celebrates Hindu bravery. Mr. Joshi has also allocated funds for such
"Hindu sciences" as astrology. This sectarian-minded education is objected
to by many of India's distinguished historians =97 especially those who had
stressed India's pluralist traditions in their now discarded textbooks.
Mr. Joshi recently denounced these historians as "academic terrorists" who
were more difficult to fight than the usual kind of terrorist.

This may be bluster; and perhaps India's largest-circulation news
magazine, India Today, describes an isolated mood in a recent cover story
on the "return of the militant Hindu." But that mood does exist. Fed by a
patriotic media and film industry and reflected in bellicose posturing
against Pakistan, it nearly dominates public life now; its urban
middle-class constituency hopes that nationalism may provide a measure of
security against the economic and political crises that, in the early
90's, had looked so threatening. And nationalist leaders continue to
strengthen their hold over the heavily centralized Indian state as their
constituents continue to gain from a globalized economy.

An antiterrorist ordinance =97 introduced by the government before the
recent attacks on the parliaments in Kashmir and Delhi =97 would have
required up to three years' imprisonment for a journalist who failed to
assist government authorities. It has been challenged by human rights
groups and political parties concerned about the possibility of its misuse
against minorities. In any case, the ordinance is unlikely to curtail the
activities of Hindu extremist outfits affiliated with the government like
Shiv Sena, which claimed some credit for demolishing the Babri mosque in
Ayodhya in December 1992 and was indicted by a judicial commission for
inciting the pogrom against Muslims in Bombay in 1993.

What was once quickly identified as unreasonable and aberrant =97 Hindu
majoritarianism =97 enjoys a growing influence and legitimacy as the ruling
ideology of the Indian government. Oddly, the illiberal tendencies a
military dictator seeks to expel, with popular support, from Pakistan seem
to be finding a hospitable home in democratic India.

Pankaj Mishra is author of ``The Romantics,'' a novel.

______

#4.

Issues in Secular Politics, No5, Feb-II, Vol.5
[25 February 2002]

'Loving' to Hate

Ram Puniyani

Valentine day, 14th July this year was also marked by the acts of
intolerance, violence by the 'Moral Police' of Shiv Sena, Vishwa Hindu
Parishad and ABVP. In Lucknow some boys and girls who had met to celebrate
the day were beaten up. Similar and related violence including the attacks
on shops selling Valentine and other mementoes were also reported. On the
eve of the Valentine day and on the day itself one is watching in utter
disgust the action of this moral police (MP) in vandalizing the events of
the day. Valentine day has come to be synonymous with the exchange of
messages of love all over the world. To keep company with 'our' own MP
similar groups in Saudi Arabia are also on the rampage. Many a functions
planned for this day had to be cancelled and many others just did not dare
to plan any function in the light of experience of vandalism of previous
years.

The ground on which these MP are operating holds no water. It is being
said that such an open expression of love is 'un-Indian', this celebration
is not in keeping with Indian culture, multinationals are promoting 'nude
revolution' etc. Real reasons for this intolerant behavior have to be
looked for in their overall agenda to curtail liberalism, pluralism and to
constrain the democratic ethos of the country.

The circumstances under which this day came to become a memorable one, are
very interesting and have a deep message. Valentine Day has an ancient
legacy. It seems that the early Christian Church had at least two saints
bearing this name. As per one story Roman emperor Claudius II forbade
young men to marry in the year 200's A.D., as he had strong military
ambitions and he thought that single men made better soldiers (As 'our
own' RSS believes that single men make better Pracharaks (Propagators) for
Hindu Rashtra, and accordingly one can not be a RSS pracharak if one not a
'bachelor boy'). A priest by the name Valentine protested and disobeyed
the orders of the King by solemnizing the marriage of young couple's.
According to another legend, Valentine was an early Christian who was very
affectionate to young children. He refused to worship Roman Gods and on
that count was imprisoned. Children missed his affection and love and
tossed the notes containing love messages across the prison bars.
According to many a stories he was executed on 14th February. This day in
due course came to be celebrated in his memory, as a tribute to his
courage in defying the inhuman orders of the ruling kings and people
started sending greetings and messages of love to their loved one's. The
origin of the customs is slightly shrouded due to its being very ancient.
Also these customs started taking local hue in different countries
wherever this day began to be celebrated.

So why is the Hindutva brigade opposed to Valentine day, which is symbolic
of love? Is it because the multinationals are involved in the card trade?
We do remember the enthusiasm of Shiv Sena-BJP combine few years ago to
dump the Enron in the Arabian sea as an electoral promise, but after
coming to power they not only ratified the same but approved the further
stage of the project as well! The BJP led coalition at center has been
surrendering to one Multinational after the other in quick succession. So
aversion to multinational corporations is not the real reason. Is it
because this day smacks of immorality and our 'moral brigade' cannot
tolerate this exchange of symbols of love, which is obnoxious according to
them? We do recall here that one of their ilk; B.L. Sharma had termed the
rape of nuns as an act of Patriotism! So what are these scales of
morality? As far the event being an un-Indian one, let's just give a
thought to the process of evolution of the customs, traditions and
culture. With the world being reduced to a global village there is a
percolation of different festivals and events across the globe. We have
seen that even in Indian context in medieval times there was a thick
intermingling of cultures and people of the society imbibed the one's
coming from different parts of the continent. People belonging to
different religions overcame the boundaries to celebrate each other's
festivals and customs. The average people of the society, those who do not
have vested interests celebrate diversity and enjoy it thoroughly. Muslims
participating in Holi, Hindus participating in Tazia processions are some
very few examples from the vast cultural interaction, which was the norm
of the times, before the rise and institutionalization of communal
politics.

Strangely those practicing politics in the name of religion seem to be
averse to this basic human longing of love, friendship and
sisterhood/brotherhood. While asserting that they are open minded and
believe in Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam (Whole World is my family), or 'Aa No
Bhadra Kratvo yanto Vishwtah!' (Let the noble thoughts come to us from all
the universe) for the sake of arguments, these Religious Nationalists are
most close-minded and permit the customs and other cultural symbols as per
their political convenience. The similarities between 'our' own
fundamentalists (RSS progeny and associates) and those across the border
and slightly far away are very striking. Taliban regime had imposed
similar codes for the people in general and for women in particular. Who
will wear what color of dress, what type of dress etc. everything is
dictated. The Hindutva bandwagon has been drumming up the 'patriotism' by
various dictates. One remembers this brigade's attacks on films (Water,
Fire), their attacks on Gazal concerts (Gulam Ali), painting exhibitions
(M.F.Husain) from the recent past. BJP's Mr. Rajnath Singh, the Chief
Minister of UP, had passed the fatwa, well endorsed by his patriarch
organization RSS, which told couples not to go for honeymoon, which
opposed cutting birthday cakes and burning candles etc.

The Sangh Parivar volunteers in the past have opposed the wearing of jeans
by girls. The fanatic MP brigade, belonging to most religions is
especially watchful of the 'women's conduct' or whatever can affect that.
As the protectors of 'their' women, on whose back the community identity
and all the baggage is loaded, are especial target. It is by dictating
women that the 'real' traditions are preserved and percolated in this
scheme of things. One cannot miss the type of issues, which those playing
politics in the name of religion undertake. All the issues they take for
ramming the society have to do with emotional cords and spread of hatred
against some 'other'. The real issues pertaining to the material lives,
human rights of the weaker sections etc. don't mean a thing for these self
proclaimed 'super patriots', whose patriotism gets manifested only in
burning books, cards, and in intimidating whosoever violates their fatwas.
Nothing surprising, again this is in tune with what Mullahs do in some
so-called 'Islamic republics'.

All this goes against the democracy and plural ethos of our country. Those
working for Hindu Rashtra mercilessly trample on people's choices about
various things in their lives. Their wavelength does match with those who
are imposing 'Islamic state' in many Middle East countries or even with
Mullahs across the border. This moral policing by the followers of
Thackeray and Golwalkar derives cheers from the Talibans of yesteryears.
They do have company of the Mullahs in Saudi Arabia even today. In this
intimidating game where the vandals of these outfits take the law in their
hands, the 'sympathetic' BJP govt. smiles in its sleeves with silent
approval. In a way incidents like this are a test of our democratic
principles, how far we can and will uphold them? How much this MP will
dictate our social and political lives remains to be seen. It is at one
level not just a question of burning of Valentine cards, the issue has do
with the choices of average people, women in particular. Can the people at
large have the democratic freedom to live their lives as they please or do
they have to take approval from the self appointed guardians of Religion,
morality, culture etc. breathing down our neck in our personal, social and
political life?

(The writer works with EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity, Mumbai)

______

#5.

BUSH AND BLAIR ARE PLANNING 'PHASE TWO'

DON'T LET THEM DO IT IN YOUR NAME!

Dear Friends

URGENT: STOP THE WAR DEMONSTRATION 2nd March

ASIAN WOMEN UNITE! and SOUTH ASIA SOLIDARITY GROUP are building a=20
contingent for this demonstration and hope you will march with us.
PLEASE BRING YOUR BANNER IF YOU HAVE ONE AND MEET US AT EXIT 9
OF MARBLE ARCH UNDERGROUND STATION BETWEEN 12.00 AND 12.30PM

It is particularly important to be at this demonstration because:

Bush and Blair are now about to launch 'Phase 2' of the war, planning=20
a new attack on Iraq whose people have already faced immense=20
suffering as a result of sanctions
Bombing and military attacks on Afghanistan are continuing. The=20
result of the war has been to bring back the Northern Alliance -=20
notorious for their brutality and violence against women - to rule=20
over devastated cities while thousands have become refugees
The US continues to violate basic international laws in its inhuman=20
treatment of prisoners taken in Afghanistan
India and Pakistan are being pushed to the brink of war while arms=20
dealers in Britain and the US increase their profits from arms sales=20
to both sides. The Indian army is already carrying out joint=20
exercises with US troops in Kashmir, Alaska and Mizoram in North-East=20
India.
New fronts of Bush and Blair's terrorist war are being opened:=20
American troops are already in the Phillipines and Somalia
The war is being used as a cover for the escalation of Israeli=20
attacks on the Palestinian people
State racism in Britain has escalated, with a new offensive against=20
black people's rights as citizens, while racist attacks on the street=20
and particularly anti-Muslim racism increase too.
The repressive legislation brought in by the British government under=20
the pretext of combatting 'terrorism' continues to be used daily to=20
imprison without trial and deny people basic civil liberties

Asian Women Unite! are asking all Asian women=92s groups and=20
individuals to link up and march together in the National Stop the=20
War Demonstration on March 2
We feel that Asian women should have a strong and visible presence at=20
this demonstration because:

Women=92s voices have been silenced in all the rhetoric around the war
This war has already hit women hardest - the majority of refugees and=20
victims of the bombing in Afghanistan are women and children.
This war will have a devastating impact on all our countries of=20
origin in South Asia, further strengthening forces which are=20
oppressive of women
All of us as Asian women in Britain are potentially under threat with=20
the rise in racist attacks and anti-Muslim racism much of which=20
specifically targets women
The media has portrayed all opposition to the war among Asians as=20
coming from 'fanatical' supporters of Al Qaeda. As Asian women we=20
must assert our position.

Asian Women Unite!
c/o Londec,293-299 Kentish
Town Road London NW5 2TJ
tel: 0207 424 9535
email: londec@h...

_____

#6.

INDIA-NEPAL PEOPLE'S SOLIDARITY FORUM

Dear Friend,

The extension of emergency in Nepal for another three months will not=20
help in defeating the Maoist rebellion. Indeed there is now a=20
polarisation which pits the Royal Nepal Army against the Maoist=20
guerillas making it a direct fight between the Monarchy and the=20
Republican forces. Why is it that the Maoists cannot be defeated=20
militarily? Do they enjoy popular support? What is their vision for=20
future? Why do they insist on a Republic...If you want answers to=20
these as well as want to know how this will affect us in India, you=20
are invited to a meeting on the current situation in Nepal.

TIME : 4 PM on TUESDAY, 26th FEBRUARY 2002
VENUE : GANDHI PEACE FOUNDATION
Deendayal Upadhyay Marg (Near ITO) [ New Delhi, India]

Warm greetings

Anand Swaroop Verma
Gautam Navlakha

on behalf of INDIA-NEPAL PEOPLE'S SOLIDARITY FORUM

_____

#7.

HEIR TO A SILENT SONG: TWO REBEL WOMEN OF NEPAL

by Barbara Nimri Aziz

"That tyrant is not my target; I am aiming for point zero"

The words of a poet, teacher and insurgent-uttered some 70 years ago in a
remote valley of Nepal. Thousands rallied around her at the time. Then=8A
silence.
The record of dissent in any society and any period must include the voices
and achievements of its women. One by one, we locate their stories and writ=
e
our own heroic role in the struggle for justice.
This is a short history of two women from Nepal, Yogamaya (~1890-1940) and
Durga Devi (~1930-1973). Yogamaya was a revolutionary fighting one tyrant,
Durga a reformer challenging his successor. Each woman emerged from rural
obscurity to oppose Hindu caste privilege, dictatorship, and corruption at
the heart of the nation. Because these rebels were women, because they
challenged authority, and because each pursued justice by radical means, th=
e
accomplishments of Yogamaya and Durga Devi were undervalued, then hidden.
Reference to their talents and vision was absent from the nation's historic=
al
record. Until the author, an anthropologist, arrived at a quiet community o=
f
elderly women ascetics. She learned these women were survivors from those
earlier rebellions and they wanted to talk about what they had dared to do.
They helped the visitor record the careers of their long forgotten leaders.
The title of this book HEIR TO A SILENT SONG reflects the unearthing of the=
se
histories and the anthropologist's political awakening as she overcame
biases--cultural and academic--and local opposition to her work. HEIR TO A
SILENT SONG also speaks to the creative talent of the rebels, particularly
Yogamaya who employed satirical verse to arouse her people and to challenge
injustice.
"The king stays in his palace/ he does not care to see/
if the people have justice/ not even if justice by chance."=20
The biographies of Yogamaya and Durga Devi are interwoven with three
fictionalized portraits of contemporary men and women. The lives of these
villagers expose the continuing hardships and injustices many Nepalese face
today, injustices not unlike those that Yogamaya and Durga Devi fought
against. Their stories give the mission of the two rebels deeper poignancy
and currency.
The author, a scholar with a long record of research in the Himalayas,
carried out her work at a religious hermitage on the bank of the Arun River
in East Nepal. As she records her progress with these ascetics, she provide=
s
us with anthropological insights into the little know lives of Hindu women.
Chapters: (1) Prologue, (2) To the River's Edge, (3) The Hill Porter,
(4) Shakti Yogamaya, Poet and Revolutionary, (5) A Girlchild Named Laxmi,
(6) Durga Devi, Rebel and Reformer, (7) Maya, The Little Weaver, (8)
Conclusion. Appendix: Reproduction in the original Nepali of the poems of
Yogamaya; 88 pp.

Published by the Center for Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University,
Nepal.
Price: $17.00.=20
Total pages 267; 18 illustrations.
Release date: September, 2001.=20
(Contact: the author, Dr. B.N. Aziz, PO Box 721 Roscoe NY 12776)
Email: aziz@e...

_____

#8.

The Times of India
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2002

'India, Pak need permanent peace'

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
HYDERABAD: "We cannot attempt to rid the world of hatred, but we can=20
definitely attempt to rid ourselves of hatred towards our neighbours,=20
Pakistan. However, an initiative must be taken from both sides,"=20
ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh said. He was speaking as a chief guest at=20
a cartoon and slogan contest organised at Nizam College on Sunday.
"The blowing over of the war clouds on the horizon, is a temporary=20
phenomenon, and what we need is a peace, permanent peace. It is=20
possible only if we start with the children of both countries and=20
educate them properly and see to it that the seeds of hatred are not=20
planted in them," he emphasised.
Earlier, welcoming the judges, guests and participants, Dr Anand Raj=20
Verma, president of the Confederation of Voluntary Association=20
(COVA), the organisers of the programme, said that this was yet=20
another attempt on the part of the organisation to bridge the chasm=20
of hatred and suspicion that exists between the people of India and=20
Pakistan.
The association would strive to bring the people of the two countries=20
together, he said.
Cartooning and slogan competitions were organised on the occasion and=20
participants were divided into four categories. The categories into=20
which the children were divided consisted of street and working=20
children, middle school students, high school students, and college=20
students.
The themes for the contests were 'War and violence' and 'Peace'.=20
About 60 children participated in the cartoon drawing contest as well=20
as the slogan writing competition with great gusto.
The students were seen giving wings to their imagination during the contest=
.
The street children, who rarely get an opportunity to showcase their=20
talent, were seen participating in the contest with great enthusiasm.
Even the school and college students displayed a lot of camaraderie=20
during the contest. Later, the Koshish Theatre Group of COVA,=20
performed the play, Sabse Sastha Ghosht. The winners in the=20
cartooning contest were Athiya Begum, D Ramesh and V Karthik=20
(under-14 group), S Iqbal and Venkatesh (under-16 group). While K=20
Nataraj and G Ravi Kumar Naidu were adjudged winners in the college=20
group.
The winners of the slogan contest were K Prabha Kumar and S Venkatesh=20
(under-14 group), Zeba Iqbal and Zainab (middle school, Urdu group),=20
Shahnoor Mohammed and Naik Mariam (middle school, English group),=20
Siddesh (high school group), Sayyed Arouf and Amjad Ali Khan=20
(college, Urdu group) and K Nataraj (college, English group).
The awards to the winners were presented by Jagjit Singh and social=20
activist Amrita Alhuwalia.

_____

#9.

London - teach-in at
UCL (University College London)
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT
UK

3rd March 2002
10 am-6 pm

Among confirmed speakers are:

Bruce Kent (CND)
Milan Rai (Author, "Chomsky's Politics")
John Norris (Green Party)
Kalpana Wilson (South Asia Solidarity Group)
Pritam Singh (economist)
Mike Baker (Human Rights Barrister)
Alex Higgins (UCL student)
Ian Burchill (Historian)
Jim Footner (Campaign Against the Arms Trade)
Simon Crab (Media worker)
Hassan Mahamdallie (Writer)

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