[sacw] SACW #1 | 9 Mar. 02

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire - Dispatch #1 | 09 March 2002
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

Join the struggle against fundamentalism and fascism. Dont let the=20
VHP thugs and their other mates from the "Jang Parivar" wreck peace=20
in Ayodhya on the 15th March 2002.

Check our http://www.sabrang.com for news updates on post riots Gujrat

__________________________

#1. Slaughter in the Name of God (Salman Rushdie)
#2. If India and Pakistan want to be stable and prosper together,=20
they must be more like each other in secular outlook and less like=20
each other in religious terms. (Najam Sethi)
#3. We will be killed tonight (Aziz Burni )
#4. Gujarat Update March 7, 02 - Reality What we saw (Teesta=20
Setalvad, Fr Cedric Prakash, Sushobha Barve)
#5. 8th update (Sonia Jabbar)

________________________

#1.

The Washington Post
Friday, March 8, 2002; Page A33

SLAUGHTER IN THE NAME OF GOD

By Salman Rushdie

The defining image of the week, for me, is of a small child's burned=20
and blackened arm, its tiny fingers curled into a fist, protruding=20
from the remains of a human bonfire in Ahmadabad, Gujarat, in India.=20
The murder of children is something of an Indian specialty. The=20
routine daily killings of unwanted girl babies . . . the massacre of=20
innocents in Nellie, Assam, in the 1980s when village turned against=20
neighboring village . . . the massacre of Sikh children in Delhi=20
during the horrifying reprisal murders that followed Indira Gandhi's=20
assassination: They bear witness to our particular gift, always most=20
dazzlingly in evidence at times of religious unrest, for dousing our=20
children in kerosene and setting them alight, or cutting their=20
throats, or smothering them or just clubbing them to death with a=20
good strong length of wood.

I say "our" because I write as an Indian man, born and bred, who=20
loves India deeply and knows that what one of us does today, any of=20
us is potentially capable of doing tomorrow. If I take pride in=20
India's strengths, then India's sins must be mine as well. Do I sound=20
angry? Good. Ashamed and disgusted? I certainly hope so. Because, as=20
India undergoes its worst bout of Hindu-Muslim bloodletting in more=20
than a decade, many people have not been sounding anything like=20
angry, ashamed or disgusted enough. Police chiefs have been excusing=20
their men's unwillingness to defend the citizens of India, without=20
regard to religion, by saying that these men have feelings too and=20
are subject to the same sentiments as the nation in general.

Meanwhile, India's political masters have been tut-tutting and=20
offering the usual soothing lies about the situation being brought=20
under control. (It has escaped nobody's notice that the ruling party,=20
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), or Indian People's Party, and the=20
Hindu extremists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), or World Hindu=20
Council, are sister organizations and offshoots of the same parent=20
body.) Even some international commentators, such as Britain's=20
Independent newspaper, urge us to "beware excess pessimism."

The horrible truth about communal slaughter in India is that we're=20
used to it. It happens every so often; then it dies down. That's how=20
life is, folks. Most of the time India is the world's largest secular=20
democracy; and if, once in a while, it lets off a little crazy=20
religious steam, we mustn't let that distort the picture.

Of course, there are political explanations. Ever since December=20
1992, when a VHP mob demolished a 400-year-old Muslim mosque in=20
Ayodhya, which they claim was built on the sacred birthplace of the=20
god Ram, Hindu fanatics have been looking for this fight. The pity of=20
it is that some Muslims were ready to give it to them. Their=20
murderous attack on the train-load of VHP activists at Godhra (with=20
its awful, atavistic echoes of the killings of Hindus and Muslims by=20
the train-load during the partition riots of 1947) played right into=20
the Hindu extremists' hands.

The VHP has evidently tired of what it sees as the equivocations and=20
insufficient radicalism of India's BJP government. Prime Minister=20
Atal Bihari Vajpayee is more moderate than his party; he also heads a=20
coalition government and has been obliged to abandon much of the=20
BJP's more extreme Hindu nationalist rhetoric to hold the coalition=20
together. But it isn't working anymore. In state elections across the=20
country, the BJP is being trounced. This may have been the last straw=20
for the VHP firebrands. Why put up with the government's betrayal of=20
their fascistic agenda when that betrayal doesn't even result in=20
electoral success?

The electoral failure of the BJP is thus, in all probability, the=20
spark that lit the fire. The VHP is determined to build a Hindu=20
temple on the site of the demolished Ayodhya mosque -- that's where=20
the Godhra dead were coming from -- and there are, reprehensibly,=20
idiotically, tragically, Muslims in India equally determined to=20
resist them. Vajpayee has insisted that the slow Indian courts must=20
decide the rights and wrongs of the Ayodhya issue. The VHP is no=20
longer prepared to wait.

The distinguished Indian writer Mahasveta Devi, in a letter to=20
India's president, K. R. Narayanan, blames the Gujarat government=20
(led by a BJP hard-liner) as well as the central government for doing=20
"too little too late." She pins the blame firmly on the "motivated,=20
well-planned out and provocative actions" of the Hindu nationalists.=20
But another writer, the Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul, speaking in=20
India just a week before the violence erupted, denounced India's=20
Muslims en masse and praised the nationalist movement.

The murderers of Godhra must indeed be denounced, and Mahasveta Devi=20
in her letter demands "stern legal action" against them. But the VHP=20
is determined to destroy that secular democracy in which India takes=20
such public pride and which it does so little to protect; and by=20
supporting them, Naipaul makes himself a fellow traveler of fascism=20
and disgraces the Nobel award.

The political discourse matters, and explains a good deal. But=20
there's something beneath it, something we don't want to look in the=20
face: namely, that in India, as elsewhere in our darkening world,=20
religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere=20
innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue,=20
speaking of religion in the fashionable language of "respect." What=20
is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being=20
committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?=20
How well, with what fatal results, religion erects totems, and how=20
willing we are to kill for them! And when we've done it often enough,=20
the deadening of affect that results makes it easier to do it again.

So India's problem turns out to be the world's problem. What happened=20
in India has happened in God's name. The problem's name is God.

Salman Rushdie is a novelist and author of the forthcoming essay=20
collection "Step Across This Line."

_____

#2.

The Friday Times
March 8 -14, 2002
Editorial

MORE OR LESS LIKE EACH OTHER?

Najam Sethi

An acclaimed Indian Muslim "secularist" recently lambasted Mohammad=20
Ali Jinnah as "the man who single-handedly divided India in 1947".=20
That is not true. While Mr Jinnah certainly created Pakistan=20
single-handedly, it was Mr Jawaharlal Nehru and Mr Vallabhbhai Patel=20
who jointly presided over the division of India by compromising with=20
the Hindu communalists within the Congress party and pushing Mr=20
Jinnah out of their fold. The sad irony was that it was Mr Gandhi who=20
had to pay the price of their folly with his own life by insisting on=20
a secular ideal for India. That lesson remains lost on many Indians=20
even today.

Since 1969, over 10,000 people have died in communal clashes in=20
Ahmadabad, which fact bemoans the passing of Mr Gandhi's dream into a=20
sectarian nightmare. Last week, over 600 innocent Muslims died in=20
Gujarat and at least 30,000 were rendered homeless. Nearly 30 mosques=20
in Ahmadabad were razed to the ground. Ten years ago, Hindu militants=20
ran amuck in Ayodhya and sparked communal riots which left over 2000=20
people dead.

Well meaning secular Indians rightly berate Pakistan for being an=20
"ideological and authoritarian state", proudly pointing to their own=20
country's "secular and democratic" moorings. Yet they overlook the=20
frightening similarities between the fundamentalists of the two=20
countries, those in Pakistan who have declared war on Hindu India and=20
the infidel West and those in India who talk of protecting or=20
strengthening the "Hindu nation", those who wield the trident, stick=20
and firetorch in India and those who carry automatic rifles and=20
advocate an Islamic state for the "Muslim nation" in Pakistan. Both=20
may be minorities within their faiths but both have powerful=20
political supporters in the civil and military hierarchies of their=20
own countries.

The impulse of Hindu-Muslim communalism is rooted in the politics of=20
medieval Indian history. Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism emanated from=20
within the soul of ancient India and therefore didn't lead to violent=20
conflagration. But Islam arrived from outside India as a "conquering"=20
force through the sword of the "temple breaking" Muslim hordes or on=20
the back of "liberating" Muslim saints and mystics. Later the British=20
imperialists aggravated religious tensions by politicizing the=20
divide. The birth of Pakistan followed because Indian secularists=20
couldn't comprehend the nature of the communal challenge posed by the=20
Hindus communalists within their fold rather than as a result of=20
Muslim League belligerence in quest of a Muslim "nation". But just as=20
Pakistani Muslims should have stopped their search for a "Muslim=20
nation" after the formation of their state in Pakistan in 1947 (as Mr=20
Jinnah had advocated) but didn't do so to their everlasting disarray,=20
so too the Hindus should have stopped clamouring for a Hindu "nation"=20
in India (as Mr Gandhi had pleaded) but didn't do so to their=20
recurrent dismay. Indeed, if many of Pakistan's post-independence=20
woes can be laid at the door of its "Muslim ideologues", some of=20
India's problems have been accentuated by its Hindu revivalists who=20
seek to define and enlarge Hinduism in the same erroneous manner of=20
Islamism in Pakistan.

Of course, the rise of Islam as a "civilisational" force following=20
the eruption of oil politics in the 1970s has hurt both countries. In=20
Pakistan it fertilized the ground for the emergence of Ziaism and=20
provided the impetus for the Saudi-American sponsorship of jihad in=20
Afghanistan. In India, it laid the seeds of a counter-civilisational=20
response in the form of Hindutva. The articulation of this=20
"civilisational" behaviour was manifest in India by the advent of the=20
"smiling Buddha" in 1974, a reference to India's "peaceful nuclear=20
explosions", and in Pakistan by the launching of plans to build the=20
"Islamic bomb" subsequently. Pakistan now came to be cast in the=20
mould of an Islamic state while India began to shed its secular=20
leanings in favour of a Hindu Rashtra. In Pakistan the process of=20
Islamising the state was fed by the ambitions of the military while=20
in India the BJP could not have scaled the heights of the state=20
without the democratic votes and financial power of civil society.=20
Over time, the failed authoritarianism of Pakistan and the successful=20
democratization of India have led them to the same ideological=20
cul-de-sac. In trying to disprove the political legitimacy of each=20
other, both countries have mirrored the compulsions and concerns of=20
the religious impulse in the other.

The most indelible memory of Partition is of railway carriages filled=20
with mutilated corpses of Hindus and Muslims. Five decades later, the=20
blood lust of both communities in India was fanned by exactly the=20
kind of circumstances that fueled the slaughters in 1947, making=20
India's orgy of secular self-immolation look like some hoary fantasy.=20
The irony is that it is General Pervez Musharraf who wants to=20
liquidate fundamentalism and separate religion from politics in=20
Pakistan today while India's prime minister in waiting, Mr L K=20
Advani, remains a staunch supporter of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad=20
which seeks a "Hindu Rashtra". The truth is that if India and=20
Pakistan want to be stable and prosper together, they must be more=20
like each other in secular outlook and less like each other in=20
religious terms.

_____

#3.

We will be killed tonight

Aziz Burni in Rashtriya Sahara Urdu

Ahmedabad 02.03.2002

Friday Night (1st March) We arrive at the state guesthouse for a=20
short stay. We have barely settled down when some one calls from=20
Shahpur, a Muslim Majority locality of Ahmedabad, he pleads with MP=20
Shabana Azmi ' Please do some thing or we will be killed tonight'.=20
Shabana breaks down, she tells me that is how it was in Bombay in 92.=20

A mob of around seven thousand has laid siege to Shahpur and Watvaju=20
Pura, the situation is explosive and any thing can happen.

An instance or two may describe the prevailing situation better.=20
Rehan Fazal, BBC correspondent walks into the five star Taj Residency=20
at 10 p.m. on Friday the 1st looking for a room for the night, he is=20
told that he will have to register in a Hindu name. Rehan refuses to=20
provide an identity that is different from the one on his Passport=20
and Visa. 'In that case we cannot accommodate you' He is told. Rehan=20
relates the incident to CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury.

Yechry, SP leader and MP, Amar Singh, Raj Babbar and Shabana Azmi=20
were on a visit to the riot torn city and I was part of the=20
fact-finding team. Police Commissioner C.N.Pande told us that he had=20
that very morning shaved off his beard before visiting the effected=20
areas. The ANI correspondent told us that he had also shaved off his=20
beard and that in the city men were being made to strip in order to=20
ascertain their religion.

The horror of what the Rashtriya Sahara Hindi Editor, Govind Dixit,=20
and I have witnessed in the last one hour can not be described in=20
words. Around 60 burnt vehicles line the road a few hundred meters=20
from the Airport. This is the scene in a market, every shop belonging=20
to Muslims has been burnt. The police stop us as we try to move=20
towards the city. You can not go beyond the Guest House, senior=20
officers inform us. A police officer at the Airport had also told us=20
the same thing. "It will not be safe for you in the city, George=20
Fernandes had a tough time yesterday"

We move into the guesthouse, senior bureaucrats and police officers=20
inform us about the unimaginable goings on in the city, requesting=20
that their names not be mentioned in any of our reports. We call CM=20
Narendra Modi's number 2866343 and talk to him, we tell him that the=20
riot effected are constantly calling us and that we want to visit the=20
V.S.Hospital. Modi tells us that it is unsafe to go into the city, he=20
asks, how can I to provide security for you when I could not do it=20
for George? Amar Singh informs him that we have our own security Modi=20
tells him that our presence will exacerbate tensions. Raj Babbar=20
informs Narendra Modi that he has received a call from Bapu Nagar the=20
caller has said that there is firing from Home Minister Govardhan=20
Chhabaria's House. Modi's responds 'You know very well who keeps arms=20
at home, Hindus don't stock weapons'.

Amar Singh says that regardless of the danger we must go into the=20
city, he is certain that this state of terror is the handiwork of the=20
State Govt. Sitaram Yechury is meanwhile talking to the CM, he=20
insists that the team be allowed to visit the city. The CM says=20
everyone recognises your face and people know your stand on the=20
issue, I cannot guarantee your security in this situation. Sitaram=20
says this is nothing but an open threat from the CM. Shabana talks to=20
Modi, he tells her the same thing. Your presence will only incite=20
people.

Ashok Bhat,The Minister of Health in the state Govt and Bharat=20
Pandya, the youngest BJP MLA in the Gujarat assembly are both present=20
throughout these arguments with the CM. According to them it was=20
possible to deploy the army on Saturday but it was delayed due to the=20
last rites of those who had been burnt to death at Godhra.=20

Pandya identifies Jamalpur and a few localities as areas of high=20
tension. According to him it was due to the demography of these areas=20
as Muslims, at over 60 % of the population, in these pockets out=20
numbered the Hindus by a big margin. When we insisted that there was=20
tension all over the city, he conceded and said that the two parties=20
faced each other all over the city.

I asked him why, the former MP, Ahsan Jafri was left at the mercy of=20
a mob baying for his blood, allowed to be killed and not provided=20
protection in spite of his pleas to save his life communicated to all=20
and sundry for over six hours. Pandya Said Ahsan had opened fire at=20
the crowd.

Sushil Paikh, the UNI correspondent from Bombay and Cameraman Uday=20
Ayur walk in, Parikh's Indica and his equipment had been burnt to=20
ashes in Behram Pura the day before. They had spent four hours=20
begging people to give them shelter and no one was prepared to help=20
them, thy had somehow managed to escape and were still in a daze. We=20
are informed that a large number of those hurt in the rioting and=20
arson are at the Al-Ameen hospital in the city. We ask the Health=20
Minister about the location of the hospital, he says 'It is a private=20
Clinic, who knows where'.

We receive information that in the Watvajua Pura area of the city=20
over 250 hotels, restaurants and guest houses have been burnt to=20
ashes, Samnor (estimated loss crore), Kabeer Restaurant, Sun Flower,=20
Jhajjar Bangla, Raj Kamal, Tasty Restaurant-next to the Police post,=20
Abhilasha at Hajra Pura, Topaz Hotel, Tulsi Restaurant, Treat,=20
Navrang, Millennium Restaurant, Bhagya Uday, Utsav, Navjeevan=20
Restaurant, Aaram Guest House, Elite, Apex, Rose Garden, Regal the=20
list is endless and now nothing but ashes.

Though the police officers are opposed to the idea, we insist on=20
moving out of the guesthouse, a crowd of around 200 surrounds us the=20
moment we step out. Khursheed Saeed a local leader pleads with us not=20
to go to the riot effected areas. Pointing to the police officers=20
accompanying us, he says you can only trust the army not these=20
fellows. Khursheed says ' I can't tell you what I have been through,=20
I have never seen any thing even remotely like this.

Sumeet Awasthi, the Aaj Tak Reporter, who accompanied George=20
Fernandes to Ahmedabad arrives on the scene with Ashvini, the Aaj tak=20
Cameraman. Ashvini is injured, he has been hit on the head. Sumeet=20
warns us against venturing into the city, telling us that their TaTa=20
Sumo was pelted with bricks and stones and they barely managed to=20
escape with their lives.

In Spite of all these warnings we move out of the Guesthouse under=20
police protection. We reach the office of the Police Commissioner',=20
barely 150 meters down the road, both sides of the road are lined=20
with shells of burnt vehicles and torched shops. The hoarding outside=20
the Commissioners office loudly proclaims "Service, Security,=20
Peace". Here! In Gujarat!! Says Amar Singh.

Mid night, the city is wide-awake. Clusters of people standing=20
around, slogans being shouted. Commissioner's office packed full of=20
reporters, cameramen, and correspondents from News agencies,=20
channels, and Newspapers. Exchanging notes, recalling what they have=20
seen and been through. They are talking of the slogans that have rent=20
the smoke-laden air of the city. The most raised slogan in Gujarat.=20
"Jai Shree Ram, Ho Gaya Kaam"- Long live lord Ram, The deed is done -=20
Indeed.

_____

#4.

GUJARAT UPDATE MARCH 7, 02

REALITY WHAT WE SAW

Teesta Setalvad Fr Cedric Prakash Sushobha Barve

The second day of our stay in Ahmedabad has revealed more tales of=20
horror in the different relief camps that we visited but worse, has=20
also emphasised the systematic patterns of behaviour and complicity=20
in the violence.

Violence has not abated but is simply taking place in the more=20
dispersed rural areas where even the media does not reach. Even as we=20
write this update, reports of four persons being burned alive in=20
Santrapur village came in. Each one belonged to the minority=20
community. In regions of north Gujarat especially violence continues=20
and terror reins the countryside. Villages on the outskirts of Anand=20
have stoicly resisted the violent threats to their Muslim=20
inhabitants. To pressurise the Hindus, the local VHP has been sending=20
them a set of bangles every day. So far the locals have held out. The=20
day before yesterday a minister from the state cabinet actually=20
addressed a meeting of the villagers decrying them for not having=20
been violent.

Yesterday, in our update we had stressed that the violence in Gujarat=20
should not be referred to a communal riot but ethnic cleansing and=20
genocide. Evidence of this was viewed by us, once again, as we drove=20
to the outskirts of Ahmedabad, to Vatwa that has given shelter to a=20
total of 6,000 members in relief camps. The main relief camp was a=20
make shift pandal where women, children and men eat, and sleep right=20
there. There is a problem of sanitation. There is also a problem of=20
insufficient toilets. The administration has not responded to the=20
repeated demand for mobile toilets and tents.

We have also pointed out in repeated media interviews and updates=20
that a factor in Gujarat's violence is a trend recorded by writer,=20
Teesta Setalvad (through Communalism Combat) in Gujarat for the past=20
two years. The hiring of young men, on high salaries, by the Bajrang=20
Dal for the express purpose of wielding the talwar and the trishul.=20
In fact, a trained militia. Every single account that this writer=20
received before arrival in Gujarat and which has been corroborated=20
since does not simply reflect the systematic use and operation of=20
this violence in this round of ethnic genocide. In every incident in=20
Gujarat over the past few days, the attacks by mobs were not the=20
usual, riot mobs. They were mobs of 5-15,000 that collected swiftly=20
with precision and wrecked total destruction on life and property in=20
brief periods and brutal ways. It is not easy to collect such large=20
mobs in a city of Mumbai, let alone Ahmedabad let alone villages. The=20
clearcut evidence of this militia poses a challenge to Indian civil=20
society and the 'secular' Indian state -how will be cope? Can we=20
successfully articulate a demand for the disbanding of such a=20
militia? The training given to this militia is not simply on the=20
perpetration of violence. It is also a mental training in=20
de-humanisation of the 'enemy' through ideological hatred that=20
enables men (and women, in some cases) to attack, dismember,=20
de-humanise, kill, burn and then finally enjoy the loot.

On our drive down to Vatwa, along the outskirts of the city, evidence=20
of selective destruction of Muslim shops was clear. For kilometre=20
after kilometre, dhabas, garages,

Laundries, bakeries and garages owned by the minority community were=20
burned even as the shops next to them were completely unharmed.

At Vatwa we met displaced persons from Burhani society (80 homes=20
belonging to Dawoodi Bohras completely destroyed), Bismillahnagar,=20
(60 homes gutted) Roshni Park,(105 homes gutted down) Raunak Park,=20
Bachubai Kua (80 houses) Darbar Khetar, (80 homes) Syedwadi (150=20
homes destroyed), Azimpura (100 homes gutted) Tufel Park, Iliaz Park,=20
and Navapura (300). This entire area was targeted by their Hindu=20
neighbours living in nearby societies two days after the Godhra=20
incident, Thursday February 28. The attack by all eye witness=20
accounts was planned with meticulous precision as crowds of no less=20
than 15,000 saffron bands on heads, talwars, guptis and dharis in=20
hand, on four-six occasions for the next twelve hours wrecked=20
systematic destruction on homes, reducing them to empty shells. The=20
homes in Burhani society belonging to the Dawoodi Bohra community=20
were utterly gutted. When women tried to go to the sabzi mandi today,=20
orders were issued by the local Bajrang Dal, Mahesh Patel, indicted=20
for inciting the violence ordered sabziwallahs not to sell vegetables=20
to Muslims. Stones were also thrown at women crying to get a glimpse=20
of what was left of their homes.

In almost all areas, the police has not yet fulfilled it's primary=20
function of registering the First Information Riots related to the=20
violent incidents. Instead often they have registered false cases on=20
young men of the minority community who tried vainly to defend=20
themselves.

The frightening aspect of the violence is the deep-rooted terror=20
still in the minds of the survivors. On three occasions over the past=20
three days we have been told of the kind of casettes played late at=20
night by nearby societies that house perpetrators of the crime where=20
voices of 'looton, kaaton, maron, Jai Sri Ram' can be heard.

Provocative speech and hate speech by both the mainline Gujarati=20
media, the statements of the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi and=20
through provocative pamphlets being surreptitiously distributed=20
continue. CM Modi's statement reported in the Indian Express this=20
morning is telling. "The violence in Godhra was communal violence,=20
the violence after that was 'secular violence'". The Gujarati paper=20
Sandesh is probably the worst perpetrator of hate speech over past=20
days. Today a report titled, "Hindu upar khatro-Haj Yatra pachi valta=20
humla ni khaufnaaf saajish" warns the Hindu Gujarati that "Several=20
state govt agencies that after Godhra incident, the fear of terrorism=20
looms karge all over Gujarat. With the help of international help,=20
RDX bombs and aeroplane hijacks are likely to be used by these=20
terrorist forces." Neither the police nor the state is taking any=20
action against this publication.

Schools re-opened in the 'other' Ahmedabad and further evidence was=20
'normalcy' was witnessed. When a few of us friends went for dinner to=20
a Gujarati restaurant, I (Teesta Setalvad) was asked to lower my=20
voice and preferably not speak of the only thing that I can speak of=20
at the moment. Hunger is an equaliser and since our long day had=20
meant no food we ate, but ate in a locale that gave us a real taste=20
of virtual reality. A friend on the table summed it up well, "Aaj kal=20
jab log puchte hai, kaise hon? Lagta hai ki is dinon mein woh shabdon=20
ka matlab hi nahin raha."

Response To Gujarat

Today a citizen's initiative has resulted in a pamphlet related to=20
the destruction of the culture and heritage of Gujarat. It will reach=20
in tens of thousands to the villages and remote parts. You may view=20
it on sabrang.com soon, after Friday or Saturday. Other small and=20
larger peace initiatives have also begun. Tomorrow the visit of two=20
ex-prime minister's V.P.Singh and I.K.gujral is awaited. An all-party=20
delegation of MPs will also visit the city the day after. There are=20
rumours that the State plans to sabotage the visit by taking them to=20
make shift camps where not many problems can be perceived.

needs at many camps March 7, 02

The Nobel Ambulance society that happens to be Muslim owned and run=20
was bitterly humiliated and prevented from reachin relief to affected=20
persons since violence broke out in Gujarat. I had a meeting with the=20
Secretary, Mr Salim Shaikh was requested that I put out this appeal=20
for Medicines

Tablet Zentac 2,00,000
Tablet Furazoladin 2,00,000
Tablet DHQ 2,00,000
Tablet Lopamide 2,00,000
Tablet Vitac 2,00,000
Tablet B Complex 2,00,000
Tablet Ampielox 500 1,00,000
Tablet Proxyl 250 1,00,000
Injection Dextrose 5 % 1,000 bottles
Infusion Set 1,000 pieces
Injection D.N.S. 1,000 pieces
Injection Sielvien
Shet 24 No 23 200 pieces
Tablet Metacin 500 2,00,000
Tablet Ibuprofen 400 2,00,000
Tablet Wysolone Song 2,00,000
Tablet tetracycline 250 mg 2,00,000
Tablet CPM 2,00,000
Tablet Dexona 2,00,000
Tablet Chloroquin 2,00,000
Injection Xylocain 2 % 1,000 bottles
Betadine Cream 1,000 tubes
Cotton 500 pieces
Tablet Voveran 50,000
Tablet Avil 10,000
Capsules Mox 250 10,000

Noble Ambulance Society
2485 Sindhiwadi, Jamalpur, Ahmedabad 380001
Phone: 079-5399790
079-5394494
Teesta Setalvad

_____

#5.

Date: Sat, 09 Mar 2002 00:55:49 +0530

From: sonia jabbar

Ramblings on the human heart:
I've been meeting and talking to lots of people in Delhi and around=20
the country this past week. There is a tremendous amount of anger and=20
distress about the massacre in Gujrat, and yet its not translating=20
into effective action which can actually make a difference to the VHP=20
juggernaut. I realised yesterday for the first time in all these=20
years that most of us actually believe that we can do nothing to stop=20
it. It came as a cold shock. Is this true? Have we accepted defeat in=20
our hearts because we have been steadily losing ground to the Hindu=20
Right?

But how is it that the BJP's steadily declining electoral fortunes=20
have done nothing to energise our flagging spirits? Why is it that we=20
are not fortified by their desperate response to their political=20
decline. They have always said that the Kashmiri's took to the gun to=20
wrest power by force when they could not do so by the ballot. Same=20
principle, then, operating in Gujrat and Ayodhya.

Muzzafar Ali's show on tonight at Arab ki Sarai right in front of my=20
home. The generators thudding noisily to provide for the lighting ,=20
and yet Abida Parveen's clear voice soars out into the sky. She sings=20
Khusrau and Bulleh Shah. I step out onto my terrace. On the other=20
side is Humayun's tomb, lit up, perfect. Thinking about the human=20
heart, I thought of the love which fills Abida's heart, and I thought=20
it is only when it fills to the brim and overflows can it pour out in=20
song like this. And then, thinking of the hundred's of thousands of=20
soldiers amassed on the borders, their guns and missiles pointing to=20
each other, and the great efforts of the two governments- no trains,=20
no planes, no buses- to prevent the people of India and Pakistan from=20
meeting each other, and yet here is this woman from Pakistan who has=20
made the journey because of the love in her heart. And here she is=20
singing, and here I am listening- in spite of the generators! Bless=20
her and bless this spirit which pervades this land. This is what we=20
are fighting for. At least this is what I am fighting for. The right=20
to live even if my surname is Jabbar and the freedom to listen to=20
Abida Parveen singing Bulleh Shah, for instance.

What else? Conversly I actually started feeling sorry for the=20
fanatics. Their hearts are so full of hatred and suspicion that there=20
is no room to experience this. They will never fully experience the=20
power and joy and wisdom of Bulleh Shah or Khusrau or Shah Hussain or=20
Baba Farid. They will never fully experience the beauty and joy of=20
beholding Humayun's tomb, because, like the Babri Masjid, it is=20
nothing more than an Islamic structure. Such poverty, such terrible=20
poverty. And is it this poverty which we are awed by because it=20
manifests in aggression? We make a mistake by attributing it power.=20
Know it for what it truly is and it loses its power.

warmest regards sj

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

PROGRAMME

8th March: Happy Women's day. Was it happy? I was sad. I remember the=20
huge marches of thousands of women from the early nineties, and=20
looking at today's small gathering I felt ashamed. Even the killings=20
of Gujrat couldn't motivate us enough to put aside our differences=20
and come together in genuine solidarity against the fascists. We are=20
clearly not a Sangh Parivar. However, at least various groups did=20
observe the day, and most were marked by anger about Gujrat.

7th March: Some of us have been coordinating with the secular=20
political parties in the Opposition and it was decided the there will=20
be a huge show of strength in the Capital on the 13th of March. We=20
expect some 10,000 demonstrators. The march will start at 11:00 am=20
from 35 Feroze Shah Road (Mandi House roundabout) to Parliament.=20
Congress, Left parties, RJD have committed to marching under a single=20
banner: People for Peace & Secularism. The three main demands:=20
Resignation of Gujarat Chief Minister. Arrest, Prosecute and Punish=20
those engaged in the Gujrat carnage. Resignation of Home Minister of=20
Central Government.=20

I ask all of you who are making posters, placards & leaflets to keep=20
this in mind: the Sangh Parivar has launched and aggressive offensive=20
against the secularists by blaming them for the Gujrat carnage. The=20
logic goes thus: because us guys didn't condemn the Godhra incident=20
(what??? show me one letter to the editor, pamphlet, article by us=20
which doesn't preface the Gujrat carnage with " we unequivocally=20
condemn the ghastly incident at Godhra=8A" etc. ) we are responsible=20
for the "reaction". Had we condemned Godhra adequately (whatever that=20
means) the reaction wouldnt have been forthcoming. So=8Aplease make it=20
adequately clear that we did/ do so. The slogan: Godhra ho ya=20
Ahmedabad, sampradayakta ho barbaad, seems to me to be a good place=20
to start. ------------------------

To me the most worrying thing about Ayodhya is that they may still=20
allow the Shila puja. If this is allowed it will have grave=20
repercussions on this country. The VHP will definitely flaunt it as=20
their great victory. And the message will be clear: kill 2,000, we=20
get this as a reward. Kill 20,000, and the Mandir will definitely get=20
built. If we take this lying down we can be sure of a blood bath by=20
June, never mind how meekly they are saying they will accept the=20
court verdict right now. And naturally, they will also take into=20
account how, in spite of our vast numbers, we once again relinquish=20
our wishes to their will.

I have been advocating action in Ayodhya for some time now. Udit Raj,=20
chairperson, All India Conference SC/ST Organisations was the first=20
mass-based organisation to back the idea yesterday. We want to do a=20
dawn to dusk Satyagraha in Ayodhya and declare March 15 as the day of=20
Peace & Secularism: a date to look forward to instead of dreading its=20
arrival, wondering what hell theyre going to wreak. There are several=20
logistical problems which need working out, but we are in touch with=20
groups in Ayodhya who will tell us by tomorrow what exactly will be=20
possible. I have already put some friends in Punjab, UP, Jammu and=20
West Bengal in the picture and we hope to get a positive response.=20
This would shift the discourse from a Hindu-Muslim fight to the=20
struggle against fundamentalism and fascism.

This is a feeler to you. I ask you personally to consider the=20
seriousness of the VHP threat and join us in peaceful resistance at=20
Ayodhya. We would leave 13th night after the Delhi rally by train,=20
arrive Ayodhya 14th. Start Satyagraha 15th at dawn and leave 15th=20
night or 16th a.m.

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

I am sorry I haven't sent any updates on Gujrat since the day before=20
and it isn't that Gujrat has fallen off the map already. Its just=20
that I have a lot on my plate, its 1 am. I promise I'll try tomorrow.

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