[sacw] SACW #1 | 16 July 02

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire Dispatch #1 | 16 July 2002

South Asia Citizens Web:
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

South Asians Against Nukes:
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/NoNukes.html

__________________________

#1. Sri Lanka: Women call for 'equal and full participation' in peace effor=
t
#2. India: Surviving Gujarat (Nivedita Menon)
#3. Gujarat Genocide - We Need Your Help [ Advertisement by a Group in the =
UK]
__________________________

#1.

Women call for 'equal and full participation' in peace effort

Women should be given "equal participation and full involvement in=20
all efforts of peace negotiations between the Government and the=20
LTTE", representatives of women's organisations in Sri Lanka have=20
told the Government in a memorandum.
The memorandum also said that the women's organisations are=20
determined to ensure that "women's issues and concerns form an=20
integral part of the peace agenda besides ensuring that human rights=20
are fully protected at every stage of the peace process."

The memorandum:

We the representatives of women's organisations in Sri Lanka came=20
together in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 7 June 2002 to make recommendations=20
regarding women, conflict, and the peace process. In our=20
deliberations we came to the following conclusions:
* As Sri Lankan women, we accept the common destiny of all the people=20
living in the island of Sri Lanka and recognise the multi-ethnic,=20
multi-religious and multilingual nature of society. Women and women's=20
organisations in Sri Lanka have been working steadily and=20
consistently for peace during the last two decades. We therefore=20
welcome the Ceasefire Agreement between the Government and the LTTE=20
and the opportunity it provides for a lasting peace based on a just=20
and honourable settlement. We fully support all efforts at peace=20
making and peace building and urge the parties in the peace process=20
to be inclusive and fully involve all levels of our society in the=20
peace process.
* As women concerned about the peace process, we are determined to=20
ensure that (a) Women are included in all aspects of the peace=20
process (b) Women's issues and concerns form an integral part of the=20
peace agenda (c) Human rights are fully protected at every stage of=20
the peace process
* We welcome the United Nations Security Council resolution 1325=20
which reiterates the importance of bringing a women's perspective to=20
bear on all aspects of peace making, peace building, rehabilitation=20
and reconstruction. We urge the Sri Lankan Government, the LTTE, and=20
all those involved in peace building, rehabilitation and=20
reconstruction initiatives to fully implement this resolution.
* We recognise that women in particular have been victimised by war=20
and conflict in Sri Lanka, that they have been subject to the worst=20
forms of violence, been displaced and made into refugees, compelled=20
to live as war widows, and forced into prostitution and sexual=20
slavery. Women have watched their family members disappear and their=20
children conscripted into the fighting forces. They have suffered=20
physical disabilities and psychosocial trauma because of the war.=20
Therefore, women's realities and women's voices must be an essential=20
part of the peace process in Sri Lanka.
* We are concerned that as of date women are not any part of the=20
formal peace process. We insist that women be given equal=20
participation and full involvement in all efforts of peace=20
negotiations between the Government and the LTTE. Women must be an=20
integral and essential part of the discussions leading up to the=20
negotiations, in the monitoring of the ceasefire and other interim=20
arrangements, in the formal negotiations between the government and=20
the LTTE, and in the post-conflict arrangements.
* The full participation of women in decision-making in all phases of=20
the reconstruction, rehabilitation and transformation process is=20
absolutely essential. We strongly urge the Government, the LTTE, and=20
humanitarian agencies to fully include women in the economic recovery=20
that results from the peace process.
* Women have distinct priorities and specific needs regarding the=20
role of the state and the constitution. Women should be included in=20
all constitutional deliberations and the views and the preferences of=20
Sri Lankan women should be actively solicited and taken into account=20
in the formulation of a constitutional settlement. A representative=20
group of women from different ethnic, religious, and class=20
backgrounds should be included in all delegations.
* We call on the Government and the LTTE to address the substantive=20
issues and formulate specialised programs for areas that are of=20
particular concern to women, including:
Violence and Sexual Violence Against Women
Refugees and Internally Displaced Women
Protection of the Rights of Women During Resettlement
Property Rights and Repossession of Homes, Land and Title
Families of Detainees
Families of Disappeared
Women in Custody
War Widows
Families of Soldiers, Combatants, and those Missing in Action
Women Combatants and Women in the Armed Forces
Provision of Food, Housing, Clean Water, Health, Education and Basic Servic=
es
Trauma and Counselling
Economic and Social Rights of Women
Trafficking of Women
Forced Prostitution
* We call upon all parties to the armed conflict to fully respect=20
international law applicable to the rights and protection of women=20
and of children, especially as civilians, in particular the=20
obligations applicable to them under the Geneva Conventions of 1949=20
and Additional Protocols thereto of 1977, the Refugee Convention of=20
1951 and the Protocol thereto of 1967, CEDAW and Optional Protocol of=20
1999 and the UN Convention on the Rights of Child 1989 and the=20
Protocol thereto of 25 May 2000 and to ber in mind the relevant=20
provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.=20
(Include the ICCPR. Include national charters: Insert references to=20
local laws on women and child rights and torture).
* All efforts toward peace must take place within the norms and=20
standards of human rights and humanitarian law. International norms=20
of human rights law must not be compromised in the negotiation and=20
implementation of peace agreements and the interests of the civilian=20
population must receive the greatest attention. The Government and=20
the LTTE must agree to address the following human rights concerns=20
through a Human Rights Agreement:

Extrajudicial killings
The Government and the LTTE should refrain from extrajudicial=20
killings including murder, summary executions, political=20
assassinations, and causing disappearances.
Arrests and detentions
No person should be arrested or detained except according to a law=20
that meets international standards. Those arbitrarily detained under=20
the Prevention of Terrorism Act should be released as soon as=20
possible, and the Act should be repealed.
Rape and torture
No person should be tortured or raped, and parties must agree to a=20
full investigation of the allegations of rape or torture.
Free Movement of goods and people
The government and the LTTE should allow people to return to their=20
homes with minimal intrusions on their movement, and maximum=20
protection of their security. The Government and LTTE should ensure=20
the free movement of people and the free movement of goods to all=20
parts of the island.
Extortion
No one should be subject to extortion or illegal levies. All taxes=20
must be open, transparent and imposed only pursuant to legitimate=20
authority conferred by a representative body that is recognised by=20
both parties to the conflict. Child conscription
The Government and the LTTE shall agree not to conscript children=20
into their fighting forces. Children in the fighting forces should be=20
released forthwith.
Abduction and kidnapping
The Government and the LTTE shall ensure that there is an end to=20
abduction and kidnapping.
Women's rights
The Government and the LTTE should recognise women's rights as human=20
rights and monitor all those under their command for any abuses=20
against women. Both parties should ensure conditions that are=20
conducive to the full enjoyment of the rights of women.
Political freedom
The Government and the LTTE shall respect the freedom of speech,=20
freedom of association, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press,=20
the right to vote free from intimidation and violence, and=20
inclusiveness in political representation. All parties shall agree to=20
respect the right to political dissent and refrain from political=20
violence. Economic and social rights
The Government and LTTE shall recognize economic and social rights as=20
human rights, and ensure that all individuals can enjoy basic levels=20
of food, housing, clean water, education, and health care. The=20
economic and social rights of women should be protected, they should=20
fully participate in the labour force and have access to all the=20
economic opportunities provided by the peace process.
Monitoring and enforcement
Women should be represented in the monitoring committees, and all=20
members of the monitoring committees should be trained to respond=20
effectively to the complaints brought by women. The monitoring=20
committees should be given full powers to enforce the casefire=20
agreement so that they can act quickly and effectively. Monitoring=20
committees should be accessible to civilians and the present Sri=20
Lankan monitoring committees should be restructured to include=20
independent monitors.
* We call on all those who are involved in peace process to ensure=20
that the rights of local communities and ethnic groups and the rights=20
of women within these communities are protected. The participation of=20
the Muslim community in the peace process must be ensured to=20
guarantee that all sections of society are duly represented. The=20
value of diversity and the special needs of different communities=20
including those living in the border areas, the plantation community,=20
and other cultural minorities must be reflected in a final=20
constitutional settlement.
* We call upon the Government and the LTTE to respect the autonomy=20
and independence of the media and civil society institutions which=20
include women's organizations. These organizations should be allowed=20
to function freely and securely in all parts of the island.
* We urge the Government, the LTTE, and the Norwegian facilitators to=20
consider the creation of institutions such as Truth and=20
Reconciliation Commissions to record and acknowledge the history of=20
suffering of all communities due to conflict and to deal with issues=20
of accountability and justice.
* As women, we are deeply concerned about the militarization of=20
society due to armed conflict. The high levels of domestic violence,=20
rape, and sexual harassment are directly linked to a climate of=20
impunity encouraged by the war. Peace efforts should directly address=20
this problem and special measures should be taken to counter=20
militarization and its negative effects.

Signatories to the memorandum:
Association of War Affected Women/ parents of Servicemen Missing in=20
Action, Center for Society and Religion, Centre for Women's=20
Development, Jaffna, Cenword, Citizens Committee Batticaloa,=20
Community Education Center, Malabe, Institute of Nursery Studies and=20
Gender Development, Jaffna, Institute of Social Development,=20
International Center for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, Kantha Shakthi,=20
Muslim Women's Research and Action Forum, Penn Wimochana Gnanodayam,=20
Hatton, Sinhala Tamil Rural Women's Network, Nuwaraeliya, Social=20
Scientists Association, Suriya Women's Development Centre,=20
Batticoloa, Wilpotha Kantha Ithurum Parishramaya, Women and Media=20
Collective, Annathaie Abaysekera, Monica Alfred, Soundarie David,=20
Neloufer de Mel, Dulcie de Silva, Mangalika de Silva, Tharanga de=20
Silva, Visaka Dharmadasa, Shirely Dussah, Rossana Favero-Karunaratna,=20
Roshana Gammampila, Prajakta Ghatikan, Amara Hapuarachchi, Charlotte=20
Hennessy, Chandra Hewagallage, Jezima Ismail, T. Jayalalitha, Vasuki=20
Jeyshankar, Vimali Karunaratna, Chulani Kodikara, Sepali Kottegoda,=20
Neela Marikkar, Nirmala Mohankumar, J. Nahomi, Nirosha Nimalasuriya,=20
Gowrie Palanippan, Morina Perera, Inoka Priyadarshani, Saama=20
Rajakaruna, Kumudini Samuel, Thana Sanmuga, Shreen Saroor, Sridevi=20
Sockalingam, V. Sasireka, Bernadine Silva, Saroja Sivachandra, Yasmin=20
Tambiah, Bhawani Loganathan, V. Vathsala, Rohini Weerasinghe, Nedra=20
Wickremesinghe.

____

#2.

Surviving Gujarat
Nivedita Menon

The bullet marks on the white-washed walls around the dargah have been
carefully outlined in black. There was police firing here at Vatwa during t=
he
dhamaal, they tell you. They arrived in two vehicles on the 1st of March, t=
he
day after violence had erupted in the area, and fired upon people gathered =
on
the roofs of their one-storey houses - one woman died, and several people
were injured. Three of the injured - all young women - were arrested in Jun=
e,
the day after we left. Circulars issued by the government of Gujarat are
impressive in their clarity: no-one injured in police firing can claim
compensation, because of course, if the police fired on them they must have
been terrorists. It's a neat circle. Majority killed in communal violence i=
n
post-independence India? Muslims. Majority arrested and convicted? Right. N=
o
surprises there. We know this stuff, after all, we are a bunch of academics=
-
students and teachers, the second team of volunteers from Aman Ekta Manch i=
n
Delhi. We also know all there is to know about Gujarat - it's an informatio=
n
overload, for god's sake. Statistics, details of loot and plunder, of gory
massacres, of mass rapes and public sexual humiliation of women, of
devastated localities, state and police complicity, it's all there.
(But here's a lesser known little snippet of information - from yet another
government circular on compensation for deaths, it emerges that Rupees 1 la=
kh
is the price of a dead person, but the family does not get it all in cash.
You get 40 thousand in cash, and the rest in Sardar Sarovar dam bonds. It's=
a
simple equation - the more deaths in communal violence, the better for the
dam. Not so coincidental is it, the physical attack on Medha Patkar at the
peace meeting organized by Mallika Sarabhai in Ahmedabad?)
The VHP may call it Gujarat Pradesh of Hindu Rashtra, on saffron billboards
all over the state, but it is still, nominally at least, part of this land
mass we call India. And Indians are landing up in Gujarat in thousands from
all over the country - to "do something," to document, to mourn, to see fo=
r
themselves. "Riot tourism", it has come to be called. There is an element o=
f
that, but it is this large-scale documentation at all levels - individual
video-clips, journal entries, anguished first-hand accounts, detailed
fact-finding reports, news coverage, all circulating on the web, in
newspapers, on television - that has produced the composite picture that
turns our stomach: Gujarat 2002.
Having arrived after three months, what we encounter in the camps is dull
resignation and a simmering resentment, not the raw pain and uncontrollable
grief there must have been. It's easier for us to take. But in fact, nothin=
g
you have ever read or seen or heard prepares you for the utter horror of
Gujarat. Nothing prepares you for the survivors of the Chaman Pura mass rap=
es
relating the nightmarish details of the rounding up of the women, the taunt=
s
that were hurled of "akha" (whole) Hindu penises, so much better than "kate=
"
(circumcised), of recognizing rakhi brothers and those who had shared Id
feasts amongst the attackers, of one young boy, shamed by his friend's
startled and partly amused query, "Arre, tu mujhe marega?", retreating to t=
he
door, but sent back by another to finish the job.
Nothing prepares you for nine year-old Nagma, during a quiet moment inside
the dargah of Qutb-e-Alam - now, like many dargahs in Gujarat, a camp for t=
he
detritus left by the sweep of the saffron sword - saying in that endearing
sing-song Hyderabadi way they speak Hindi there, "jab hum ghar vapas gaye n=
a
didi, do-teen din bad, tab vahan kuchh nahin tha, bilkul khetaan jaise tha"
(When we went back home after a couple of days, there was nothing there, it
was flat like a field) - gesturing with her little hands ironing out the ai=
r.
Even though you have been to the ravaged bastis, seen the destruction for
yourself, utterly thorough and high-tech, crunched underfoot the pulverized
remains of homes and dreams, seen the gloating slogans on the ruins of wall=
s
- khandahar gali (Ruins Street), ajanta-ellora ni gufa (Ajanta-Ellora Caves=
)
- watched the partially burnt Quran being pulled out and impassively taken
away by a survivor (why is it not in ashes? Was it meant to be recognized, =
to
hammer home the humiliation?) - still nothing prepares you for those littl=
e
hands gesturing. Khetaan jaise.
Nothing prepares you for the policemen swaggering into the dargah with thei=
r
shoes on. Has any Indian, of any religion or none whatever, ever entered
temple, dargah or mosque except on naked feet? It's a daily, ritual,
humiliation in small things and big. It's a hostage population.
And the story of the middle-class Muslim, a friend of many of us, at the
railway reservation counter in Ahmedabad as late as the end of May? Seeing
his name on the form, someone behind him set up a shout, he was mobbed by
others present, kicked and beaten, and he escaped with his life by managing
to run to his scooter parked nearby. The crowd followed him for quite a
while, he tells you. We know that the carnage was state-sponsored, that mob
violence was meticulously planned and executed, but ordinary people at a
railway station on the morning of a working-day? Did they not have offices =
to
go to? Children to take to school? They just happened to be there that
morning, after all. But then, if every mob numbered thousands, then the
chances are high that every third or fourth person you see on the roads - m=
an
or woman - was part of a violent, rampaging mob. Nothing prepares you for
that thought. Nothing prepares you for the blood-lust over the city.

It is also a city that is expecting at any moment, that dreaded thing - "th=
e
Muslim backlash." Every Hindu knows full well that what was perpetrated the=
re
is beyond human endurance. They have looked into the void - will there not
come a moment when the void will look back? One morning an auto rickshaw
driver taking some of us to Vatwa in a sort of convoy with two other autos,
lost sight of the others. As we drove deeper into the clearly Muslim locali=
ty
he grew more and more panicky. Trembling with fear, he said again and again
that he had only agreed to come because of the others. He tried to make us
get off - don't pay me, he said, just let me go. They take two totally
different routes to the Vatwa dargah, you know, Hindu and Muslim auto
drivers. Hindus invariably take a longer route through the Gujarat Industri=
al
Development Corporation area, from the outside of the city centre. Muslims
drive straight through the city, through teeming localities, many of them
evidently Muslim.
Then there was the government official from the Collector's office, on=
a
head-counting trip to the camp. The government has been trying to wash its
hands of the camps ever since they were set up, to withdraw the pitiful
amounts of rations it provides, and it is the task of the official
head-counters to pounce on camps in "surprise" raids to prove that the camp
organizers are in fact building fat fortunes on sarkari daal-chaval. That
there are not as many people in the camps as the organizers claim, that the=
y
have all gone back to their homes. We asked the official who came to Vatwa
dargah whether he had in fact seen the village, less than a kilometer from
the dargah, where he was expecting the people to go back to when the camps
were closed. He had not, not once in the four months since the camps were
opened. We insisted he come with us to see Navapura, to see the devastation=
,
to decide for himself whether anyone could go back to live there. He agreed
reluctantly, and off we went in the vehicle emblazoned with the words I can
no longer encounter without a hollow feeling of dread - "Government of
Gujarat." We arrived, and started taking him around, the destruction more
complete than any earthquake could have managed. People were around, workin=
g
on their homes, trying to repair, to rebuild (that's where they are when th=
e
head-counters swoop down - in the wrecks of their homes, with pitiful amoun=
ts
of cement and building material; or they are roaming the city in search of
work, because they are not being taken back into the jobs they were in befo=
re
the dhamaal. Or they are out in places where they can escape from the
merciless sun). We began to walk around, the official impassively looking a=
nd
listening, but pretty soon word had spread, and a young man suddenly accost=
ed
him, challenging him on the paltry compensation, the lack of it for most,
demanding to know why he or others hadn't been seen there in four months.
Others joined in the shouting, and more and more joined the little processi=
on
of about ten people following us. The official's footsteps hastened, no
longer was he the powerful sarkari afsar but merely a Hindu in a Muslim
locality - his shoe slipped off as he practically ran to the car, which in
the meanwhile had been started and was waiting, engine running - we made a
clean, panic-stricken getaway. He off-loaded us back at the camp without a
word.
We related the story at the camp, and were rather taken aback by the
amusement it generated, the way it was told and retold amidst building lau
ghter. The image of the frightened government officer, his shoe slipping of=
f
- it became a moment of recaptured dignity. We can still frighten them, the
laughter said. We are not entirely reduced to that heart-wrenching,
humiliating picture of the young man pleading with folded hands for help.
By the time we arrived, in early June, the manufacture of "the Muslim
backlash" was in full swing. Every day the police would raid Juhapura, the
Muslim ghetto, try to round up "suspects", they would be resisted by the
residents, there would be police firing, and the papers were full of
front-page photographs of "Muslim mob marching towards Juhapura police
station." The photograph clearly showed an unarmed, peacefully marching
demonstration - but more than two Muslims is, of course, "a mob". Narendra
Modi's goons? Oh, that's the "Government of Gujarat."
We went one day to the Hindu village adjoining Navapura. No-one from t=
he
camp would come with us, we were pointed in the right direction by our
friends in the dargah. Vaghrivas is as devastated as Navapura, in an
identical fashion. We have come to recognize the way these villages look -
the black streaks of soot on broken walls, the evidence of explosives insid=
e
electricity meters, the systematic looting, right down to ripped off floor
tiles. We identify ourselves as Aman Ekta Manch volunteers from Delhi, peop=
le
gather, a young man is located, clearly the spokesperson. He and the others
show us around, the same heart-breaking remains of little, ordinary lives.
They have returned from the camp where they were located because the
organizer was swallowing up all the food and money that was coming in, and
they were close to starving. "First the Bajrangis burnt down Navapura", the
young man tells us, and the next day, a mob arrived at their village. They
show us the route by which they ran for their lives, tripping and falling,
children caught underfoot. They headed for the other Hindu village across a
stagnant pond - they pointed it out to us. Undamaged. But that village was
far from welcoming - they were thakurs, these low-caste chunars. "They
wouldn't let us enter, they said they would be killed too."
I think of the feminist friend from Pune, after having met the survivo=
rs
of the Chaman Pura mass rapes, crying out in bewilderment and anguish - "Wh=
at
makes us Hindus so tolerant of violence? Even the women participated in the
rapes, you know. It was the local dhoban (washerwoman) who helped tear off
clothes. Is it the perpetual, endemic caste violence in our society that
trains us to take this so lightly, even to enjoy it - the public humiliatio=
n
and slaughter of human beings?"
But the Vaghrivasis did force their way in to safety. The mob did not
follow. Did they recognize anyone in the mob? There is disagreement on this=
,
and a confused discussion breaks out. Didn't the police help? No, the polic=
e
told them to run for their lives, would not fire on the mob. The Gujarat
police did not take the opportunity to fire on a Muslim mob? And the
identical pattern of destruction? And the confusion on whether they
recognized people from the neighbouring village? Is it so simply a
retaliatory raid, after all? We look across at the Bajrang Dal flag
fluttering across the field, think about the way they were referred to as
"Bajrangis" - not as "Hindu". What's going on here?
They point us in the direction of the dargah, where we say we are headed, b=
ut
they too, will not accompany us beyond a point. As we turn to leave, the
young man mutters, naming the camp organizer - "Akbarbhai ko hamara salaam
kehna." When we pass on the greeting back at the dargah, Akbarbhai smiles
politely.

By June in Gujarat, there have been several hundreds of volunteers from all
over the country, some like us co-ordinating with Nagrik Pahel in Ahmedabad=
,
others with other civil society initiatives in the state, and still others
just landing up and trying to be of use. (Every day one or the other of us
would break down, and Bina, our friend, philosopher and guide in Ahmedabad,
would calm us. When do the secular activists in Gujarat sleep or eat? When
do they have the luxury of crying?) The volunteers have come from Mumbai an=
d
Pune, from Hyderabad and Vellore, from Delhi and Almora and Lucknow. They a=
re
doctors and those with training in psychiatry and counselling, others with
experience in community work, government employees and private sector
employees on their annual leave, film-makers, theatre people, teachers and
students. Some are independently wealthy, others are desperate to go, but
cannot even afford second class train fare - other people sponsor them. Som=
e
are so young that their parents seek reassurance that it will "be safe",
others are close to retirement. Another thing. They are overwhelmingly Hind=
u.
A Kashmiri Pandit writes in an email message - "I as a Kashmiri was a victi=
m
yesterday.
Today if it happens to be a poor Gujarati Muslim, tomorrow it may be the tu=
rn
of anybody - a poor Hindu, Muslim, secularist or a pseudo-secularist. I an=
d
a friend of mine have found something definite that can be done. Something =
on
a small scale=85In the heart of Amdavad, in Beharampura, there is a small
Muslim basti=85 Some residents are now gradually and very reluctantly wendi=
ng
their way back from the relief camp to their burnt and looted houses=85 We
would like to help them rebuild their lives, to get them back on their feet
again, bring them to a safe home...in a city where they were born, which th=
ey
must not stop loving. We want to live with the people in this chali, we wan=
t
to be with them when they are scared - there is still a very palpable fear =
in
Ahmedabad about the rath yatra which is to take place on 12 July. We want t=
o
keep watch every night with them in case the mobs come again. We want to be
with these people with our hearts and minds and we want to participate with
them in the rebuilding of their lives."
Shame - it crops up again and again - "We are ashamed of what has happened.
We want to show we are sorry." At one orientation in Ahmedabad for a team
that had just arrived, a young woman says seriously - "I'll do anything
required of me. Anything. If the toilets in the camps are filthy, I'll clea=
n
them." We all recognize the feeling. It's a form of prayaschit, of atonemen=
t.
The horror has been perpetrated in our name - in the name of Hindus. We are
responsible. For many of us who never considered ourselves to be "Hindu" it
is a difficult process of coming to terms with this identity. We argue abou=
t
it among ourselves, if people in the camps ask what our religion is, what
should be our reply? Some feel we should respond - what does it matter, we
are all humans. But others say that it would be grossly insensitive to thos=
e
in the camps to deny that it is as Muslims they have experienced humiliatio=
n,
torture and slaughter. The taunts about circumcision, the desecration of
Qurans and mosques, the demolition of dargahs, the forced shouting of Jai
Shri Ram before being cut into pieces. (Do you remember a time when that cr=
y
came from the heart in praise and thanksgiving?) And now the conditions bei=
ng
laid down if they want to return to their homes where they have lived for
centuries - no meat except on Id, no aazan, no beards. It is their Muslim
identity that is to be obliterated. Humiliatingly obliterated.
And if this is so, how can we deny our Hindu identity - it shouts itself fr=
om
our names, from our bodies, from our practices, from the way we speak Hindi
and Malayalam. It strikes us that this was ever so - we were always Hindu,
even when we claimed to be non-believers. For we were always legally Hindu
and Muslim and Christian, governed by Hindu and Muslim and Christian person=
al
laws. This is not an identity we can choose to take on or deny - this is an
identity that we bear, for better or for worse, and all the more so if we a=
re
believing and practicing Hindus. It calls itself the Vishwa Hindu Parishad,
it claims that Hindus want the temple at Ayodhya. We must reclaim that spac=
e.
We are Hindus too, those who want a democratic India in which all can live =
in
dignity and peace.
Suddenly, towards the end of our stay in Vatwa, the children who have becom=
e
very close to us, hear a rumour. In the impromptu school we have begun with
the help of local young educated women, Safia comes up to ask, "Didi, aap
Hindu ho?" (Are you Hindu?) At our reply, she claps her hand over her mouth
in shock and dismay - "Haww..", she gasps. The class breaks up, the childre=
n
cluster around - "Amanbhai bhi? Aradhyadidi bhi?" they name us one by one.
Seven-year old Sultan swaggers up - "Kaun kehta hai ki aap Hindu hain?" (Wh=
o
says you are Hindu?) he shouts, eager to protect our honour. In a few momen=
ts
however, it is part of their common sense, they have absorbed the knowledge=
.
We go back to multiplication tables. The next day Safia is teaching me a
rhyme to go with the game all little girls seem to play, clapping hands
together rhythmically. It's mostly nonsense, as these rhymes are. I catch t=
he
odd phrase - "garam masala" she goes, "paani puri", both of us clapping awa=
y.
Suddenly - "Laam Lachhman". I stop, surprised. What did you say, I ask. Saf=
ia
is irritated with this break in the rhythm. She says impatiently, "Aap
Hinduon mein nahin hota, Laam Lachhman?" (You know, what you Hindus have,
Ram-Lakshman.) Oh that. We carry on.
At the camp at Aman Chowk, where three of our team, young people with
experience in theatre, conducted theatre games with the children over the
week, they had a similar experience. There the team brought up the question
themselves - "Do you know who we are?" they asked towards the end of their
stay. The children guessed, "Bhai-behen? Mian-biwi?" No, no, do you know wh=
at
our religion is? They guessed again - Sikh ho? Isai ho? One of them was
Christian, so that was partially correct. The two of us are Hindu, Bhrigu
explained. Ho hi nahin sakta, (it's not possible), the children were
confident. "Hindu" was a word they associated with terror, with fire, with
frightening shouts of Jai Shri Ram, with fleeing in the night. These childr=
en
were playing games of Hindu toli versus Muslim toli in the camp - of course
it was inconceivable to them that any Hindu would have spent this time
playing with them and making them laugh.

Zubeida had a bangle business, destroyed now, of course. In the shade of th=
e
neem protecting the dargah, she chats to me about Delhi, where she has
relatives. But she is not from Gujarat originally. "Bindravan gayi ho?" she
asks. Have you been to Brindavan. No, I reply. "Tirath karne nahin gayi? Hu=
m
wahin se hain. Wahi hamara vatan hai." (You have never been there on
pilgrimage? We are from there. That is our land.)

Hamara vatan. Zubeida's and mine. We have no other.

_____

#3.

[ Published as an Advertisement in The Guradian (UK) on the 13th July 2002]

GUJARAT GENOCIDE

WE NEED YOUR HELP

Since the horrific deaths of 59 Hindus in a riot at Godhra station, state
sponsored anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat, India, has claimed the lives of
more than 2,000 innocent Muslims. Over 100,000 Muslims, including hundreds
of raped women and injured or orphaned children, are living in relief
camps. Among those who were torched to death there were some British Muslim=
s.

To help victims and their relatives, we need information urgently. If you
can help, please call us. We promise confidentiality. You will be able to
speak to a female colleague if you wish.

DO YOU KNOW OF ANY FAMILY OR INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE BEEN KILLED, HURT, RAPED
OR ARE STILL MISSING DUE TO THE VIOLENCE IN GUJARAT SINCE 27TH FEB 2002?

DO YOU KNOW OF ANY PERSONS WHO WITNESSED ANY INCIDENT THAT LED TO HARMING
ANOTHER OR TO THE DESTRUCTION OF ANOTHER'S PROPERTY?

DO YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON ANY UK BASED INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS WHO TOOK
PART IN ANY ATROCITY?

IF YOU DO, CONTACT US. TOGETHER WE MAY BE ABLE TO HELP THOSE WHO HAVE
SUFFERED OR MAY STILL BE SUFFERING

YOU CAN CONTACT US ON THE FOLLWING TELEPHONE NUMBERS:
0800 374 618 (24 Hours Freephone) or 020 8571 9595
AWAAZ-SOUTH ASIA WATCH, P O Box 304, Southall, UB2 5YR [UK]
Awaaz is a newly established secular network of individuals and
organisations that wishes to combat the growing threat of religious hatred
and fascism both in the UK and South Asia.