[sacw] SACW | 11 Sept. 02

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | 11 September 2002

__________________________

#1. Were We Too Hijacked On 9/11? (Pervez Hoodbhoy)
#2. Pakistan: Things are getting clearer (M B Naqvi)
#3. India-Pakistan Standoff: Who is the beneficiary (Syed H. Akhter)
#4. Blame It on the Religious Leaders (Firoz Bakht Ahmed)
#5. Gandhi may be dead in Gujarat (Zahir Janmohamed)
#6. Virulent anti minorities and communal speech by Chief Minister=20
Narendra Modi in Gujarat
+ Edit in the Hindu
#7. Modi's Gaurava Yatra is Raurav Yatra (I.K.Shukla )
#8. Human Rights Watch Report on Attacks on HIV/AIDS Workers in India
#9. Mansoor Khan's Letter to the chief Justice of India re=20
Submergence without rehabilitation of 'adivasi' villages in Narmada=20
Valley

__________________________

#1.

WERE WE TOO HIJACKED ON 9/11?
Pervez Hoodbhoy

Al-Qaida had to be bombed, to let the Taliban be was not an option. When
fanatics, inspired by Osama bin Laden, flew airliners packed with people
into two of America's tallest buildings, it was unreasonable to expect
otherwise. So, yes, I agree with Anthony Barnett that a "focused military
response was essential". And yes, I disagree with many of my students and
compatriots - with the same vehemence as I did the day after 9/11 - who
still see the WTC attack as just retribution against the US for having
aided Israel, the dispossessor and tormentor of Palestinians.

But have we - meaning Barnett and me and the many millions who were
appalled by the mass murder of innocents - been taken for a ride? Was our
unequivocal condemnation, and the horror we felt, cynically capitalized
upon to create a New Imperial Order? As the drums of war start a frenzied
beat, and America's mighty armadas move to crush Iraq, it is time to step
back into history for a moment and reflect.

Flush from its Cold War victory, the mighty US military machine had
diligently searched for new enemies. At best, success had been partial.
Condoleezza Rice's Foreign Affairs article from 2000 begins with this
declaration: "The United States has found it exceedingly difficult to
define its 'national interest' in the absence of Soviet power." Her
frustration was understandable. Imagine yourself at the Pentagon with
thousands of bombers, fighters, missiles, and ships at your command. You
also have 12 aircraft carrier groups, each a floating garrison city built
for dealing massive death and destruction in any part of the globe.
Surrounded by cruisers, submarines, and supply ships, they are
indestructible by the forces of all countries of the world put together.
But, apart from taking potshots at Iraqi targets, there was little for the
carrier groups to do. These super-juggernauts had a clear mission - to
safeguard the Empire and its lines of supply. But extended inaction had
made their frightful power fade from the world's consciousness.

When bin Laden's maniacs assaulted the symbols of American power, they
gave to the Empire what it had secretly yearned for - an end to the era of
undeclared imperialism. For the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz team the
burning towers provided a transformative moment, a chance to fundamentally
change American doctrine.

It was time to discard the velvet glove; America's iron fist would now be
law. International treaties and courts had no more utility - all
agreements could be discarded unless they specifically promoted US
interests. The Pentagon, which hit a 48 billion dollar jackpot, would
ensure that now Imperial America could go it alone. No longer, as the
leaked Nuclear Posture Review made apparent, would the US necessarily
desist from using nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear adversary. Indeed,
several US newspapers had run editorials saying that using nuclear weapons
against Muslim countries would be justified if terrorists killed so much
as one more American.

Most Americans would like to believe that their renewed militarism is no
more than "injured innocence", a natural response of any victim of terror.
They implicitly repudiate the notion that America is, or even desires,
being different from other countries of the world. "Empire" bears a
negative connotation in their lexicon. Liberal intellectuals like Van
Wishard of the Coudert Institute are more forthcoming - "we are perceived,
at a minimum, as an empire of influence", he says. Nevertheless, he
maintains: "That said, in my view no great nation has used its power as
generously and with as little intention of territorial gain as has
America."

Alas, the only ones capable of making this considerable leap of faith are
Americans. Middle Eastern oil - and now the promise of securing Central
Asia's oil - has long driven US policies. The most murderous of dictators
- Suharto of Indonesia, Raza Shah Pahlavi of Iran, Pinochet of Chile,
Marcos of Philipines, Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan, and many more - have been
the firmest of US allies. The lack of scruple and the pursuit of power by
the United States combined fatally with this tide in the Muslim world in
1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. With Zia ul-Haq as
America's foremost ally, the CIA openly recruited Islamic holy warriors
from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Algeria. Radical Islam went into
overdrive as its superpower ally and mentor funneled support to the
mujahiddin; Ronald Reagan feted them on the White House lawn. Voila: bin
Laden and his ilk.

Generosity? Yes, the US was generous to Europe and Japan after WWII. But
US foreign aid to developing countries - except Israel and Egypt - has
been essentially a pittance over the last 3 decades or more. Europe, on
the contrary, with a much smaller combined GNP provides far more
assistance to developing countries. This mean spiritedness is nowhere more
apparent than in Afghanistan, a country twice devastated by US
interventions over 2 decades, which is now being told by George Bush that
if it wants to rebuild highways then it must do so by taking loans.
Earlier promises of a Marshal Plan for Afghanistan have all but
disappeared.

Americans will have to accept that their triumphalism and disdain for
international law are creating enemies everywhere, not just among Muslims.
Therefore they must become less arrogant and more like other peoples of
this world. American people must resist the temptation to define the world
in terms of their own narrow interests - a better world is worth it even
if they have to pay a little more for gas in their SUVs.

America's nemesis, bin Laden, is in all probability dead. But Al Qaida's
greatest strength is patience, a belief in the eternal and the rewards of
paradise. So they are grimly content to wait in the shadows, to gain in
death what could never be achieved in life. Al-Qaida's militants and their
likes are happiest with primitives like George W. Bush - he speaks their
language of good versus evil, and force as the weapon of choice. They will
surely gain if the US unleashes carnage upon Iraq, a country with no
plausible link to Al-Qaida, because it will eventually bring to them a
flood of recruits.

Despicable as bin Laden and his henchmen are, they do not have the power
to flatten cities. September 11 was horrendous but it was only one
snapshot of history, and history is an infinite gallery of crimes
committed by the human race against itself. A global, democratic, secular,
humanistic identity must soon replace the twin evils of imperial
domination and religion. Else we perish. ---------------

Pervez Hoodbhoy teaches physics at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.
This comment was invited by the editors of www.openDemocracy.net

______

#2.

The News International
11 September, 2002

Things are getting clearer
M B Naqvi
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/sep2002-daily/11-09-2002/oped/o5.htm

______

#3.

South Asia Tribune
Issue No 8, Sept 9-15, 2002
Opinion
India-Pakistan Standoff: Who is the beneficiary
Syed H. Akhter
http://www.satribune.com/archives/sep09_15_02/opinion_indiapakistan.htm

______

#4.

The Telegraph
September 11, 2002

Blame It on the Religious Leaders

Firoz Bakht Ahmed
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1020911/asp/opinion/story_1184637.asp

______

#5.

Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 14:08:44 +0530

Gandhi may be dead in Gujarat

By Zahir Janmohamed

I have been searching for Mahatma Gandhi for several years. But after
spending six months in Gandhi's homeland, Gujarat, I fear he may be dead.

I was recently sponsored by the America Indian Foundation to work with an
Indian NGO, SAATH. Gujarat was a natural choice for me: my grandparents hai=
l
from the coastal state. They left India in the early 1920s to join the
diaspora in east Africa.

My parents were both born in Tanzania. While my father was a medical studen=
t
in Uganda, Idi Amin came to power and insisted that Africa was for
Africans - black Africans - and Indians had no place among them.

In 1971 they arrived in Sacramento, California, and have remained here ever
since. My return to Gujarat was, therefore, tinged with romantic yearning.

What I came face to face within the next few weeks was beyond imagination.

I was working in a Hindu shantytown on February 27 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat,
when a train coach with 58 Hindus was set ablaze in the city of Godhra. The
Indian government was quick to suggest that the attack must have been the
act of Muslims and, possibly, Pakistan.

For three months, intolerant mobs held all Muslims in Gujarat - including
me - responsible for the beastly attack in Godhra.

Harish Bhatt, senior leader of right-wing Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP), warned in early March: "Now it is the end of tolerance. If Muslims d=
o
not learn, it will be very harmful for them."

Father Cedric Prakash, director of an Ahmedabad-based human rights group,
testified to members of U.S. Congress about the pogrom, which many critics
say was state-sponsored.

According to his estimation, over 5,000 people were killed, 150,000 forced
into camps, 300 women raped and 532 mosques/dargahs destroyed. As many as
600,000 fled the state. Nearly all were Muslim.

I remember my first visit to the Shah Alam refugee camp in Gujarat's capita=
l
Ahmedabad. It was groups of compassionate Hindus that began the much needed
rehabilitation efforts in Gujarat. More than 15,000 Muslims battled for
space in the cramped confines of a relief camp the size of a soccer field.

Huddled in a corner was a group of young children and I sat down and
introduced myself. One child kept asking, "But you are Muslim too. Why
didn't your home burn down?"

As I left the Shah Alam camp, another child asked: "Why are you able to
leave? Why can't my family leave?"

Any Muslim caught leaving the Shah Alam camp was arrested. Posted all aroun=
d
were police officers, their weapons facing towards - and not away from - th=
e
refugees.

Muslims in the camp, I was told, were planning an attack. Conditions in the
camp were so dire that an infant died in the camp of dehydration. What
potential threat could a people under such conditions pose?

I wrestled with the duality of my existence in Ahmedabad - I was at once a
part of the minority community attacked by the government-sponsored violenc=
e
and yet constantly being granted special treatment because of my U.S.
citizenship.

I carried immense guilt as I left the Shah Alam camp. It is a duality that
continues to haunt me.

Nowhere was this duality more manifest than with my host family, an
exceptionally loving and delightfully entertaining Hindu couple in
Ahmedabad. When I did not have an outfit to wear for Bakri Eid (a Muslim
religious festival), it was "uncle" who gave me his own kurta-pyjama.

After returning from the relief camp one evening, I was in too much agony t=
o
eat dinner. Each time I tore of a piece of 'roti' (bread), I recalled the
friends I made in the camps: Javaid, orphaned at 12 after watching his
parents being burnt alive before his eyes; Anjum, 19, gang-raped and
urinated upon; Iqbal, 71, arrested and shot in the leg for "inciting
violence" against a mob of 250.

What, I asked myself, did I do to deserve the luxury of a quiet dinner that
so many of my friends in the camps did not have?

My host "mother" attempted to cheer me up and said: "Well you know, beta
(son), those Muslims only go to the camps because they get free food there.=
"

I wanted to tell her that the relief camps smelled of urine and faeces, tha=
t
the floors were indescribably filthy. You would throw up at the very sight
of that place, let alone eat there. But I remained silent.

They offered me the security and acceptance denied to many other Muslims in
Gujarat, and I was grateful.

I recall my visit to the relief camp in Vatwa, just 32 km outside Ahmedabad=
.
An entire community of around 100 Muslim homes was burned on the first day
of the riots, forcing nearly 500 into the relief camp.

I arrived with friends from Citizen's Initiative, the umbrella organisation
comprising 31 NGOs committed to rehabilitation. We arrived in the Vatwa cam=
p
with two truckloads of rice and lentil. My friends became nervous when they
entered the camps. One of them was scared of even accepting a glass of wate=
r
inside.

As we unloaded the rice from the van, I heard the 'azaan', the call for
evening prayers, and I asked my NGO friends if I could go to the mosque for
a few minutes.

Persistent curfew in Ahmedabad had prevented me this pleasure. As I returne=
d
from the mosque 10 minutes later, I was reprimanded for delaying the group.

I continued to work in the relief camps of Ahmedabad through April. In the
first week of April, a Hindu woman called Madhuben was pulled out from her
home, raped, urinated upon, and then burnt to death.

Her crime? She had given shelter to a Muslim man, believed to be her lover.
The perpetrators took pictures of her body and sent it all around Gujarat.
Pamphlets were passed around warning that similar action would be taken
against anyone else helping Muslims.

I saw fear creeping into my host family. One morning as I left to use the
Internet caf=E9, my host "uncle" told me with discomfort: "Uh, perhaps you
should not use the name Zahir while at the caf=E9."

A week later, I boarded a one-way flight to New Delhi. I did not want to
leave Gujarat.

My work in Ahmedabad, though emotionally gruelling, had shown me India and
humanity in ways I had never imagined. Now my presence in Ahmedabad was a
threat to those around me and I had no choice but to leave.

I could not restrain my tears as I boarded the flight. As I peered out at
the diminishing view of Ahmedabad from the airplane window, I thought of my
parents' expulsion from Uganda.

Could my pain compare to their separation from their birthplace? I remember
repeating the lines of Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib: 'Jab ke tujh bin koin nahin
mawjood; fir yeh hangama, ai Khuda, kya hai' (When nothing but You exists;
why then, Oh God, this chaos?)

At the advice of friends, I decided to backpack through north India. Gujara=
t
is not India, they told me, and I wanted to believe them.

My first destinations were Hardwar and Rishikesh. I wanted to see the Ganga=
,
the holiest of Hindu rivers. Friends had spoken of its healing power, and I
certainly needed the solace.

When I checked into a hotel in Hardwar, the hotel owner looked at my
passport, particularly my Pakistani visa stamp and repeatedly told me to
return to Pakistan. I spoke in Hindi and told him that I was Gujarati. He
eventually allowed me to stay but found it incredible that a Gujarati Musli=
m
from America would want to visit the Ganga.

I continued to backpack and covered 22 cities in one and a half months,
encountering much of the same prejudice everywhere. In Varanasi, I was aske=
d
by a hotel owner to prove that I wasn't an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI=
)
agent (ISI is Pakistan's CIA).

In Aligarh, I met Muslim students who spoke of being discriminated against
in jobs. In Jaipur, I saw a crowd of nearly a hundred burn an effigy of a
"Pakistani" as we prayed on 'Jum'a' (Friday prayers). In Mumbai, I met a
Muslim family who was denied an apartment in the upscale Malabar Hill subur=
b
because the housing complex wanted "vegetarians only".

They had said Gujarat wasn't India. I did not see any proof of that. Now
back in the U.S., I am often asked what it was like to witness the worst
communal violence in India since partition.

Two days after returning, I walked into the bagel shop near my house in
Sacramento, California. The store employee took my order and asked: "What i=
s
your name?" I froze.

I allowed the question to linger for a moment. How many times, I thought,
had I wrestled to answer that most basic question in India? Three weeks
after returning to the U.S., I am still haunted.

I decided to visit a psychiatrist for post-traumatic stress disorder. When =
I
walked into the doctor's office, she said: "How can we get you to forget?"
I walked out five minutes later.

It is not about forgetting. Nor is it about reciprocating hatred. It is
about translating my loss into an effort to understand the larger issues, t=
o
understand people, and to see that this violence does not repeat anywhere,
be it against Muslims, committed by Muslims or completely unrelated to
Muslims.

Working in India I have learned the danger of instilling fear without
creating political and societal mechanisms to safeguard against that very
fear. I have witnessed how easily the chant of "protecting security" can
readily be used to break down society and overshadow more pressing societal
ills.

I recall visiting one family in the slum that had just lost their infant so=
n
to dehydration. When the conversation somehow drifted to politics, they
shifted their tone and told me: "Pakistan is the biggest problem plaguing
India."

What then, I asked them, about the spiralling health conditions, the lack o=
f
safe drinking water, scarcity of employment or the low literacy in India?
After all, India is a country where many street children learn to extend
their hand to beg for spare change before they can even say "Ma".

And that is what frightens me: Has communal hatred in India eclipsed more
exigent issues like food and water?

Might Gandhi still be alive? Somewhere, in someone?

(Zahir Janmohamed is an American citizen who visited Gujarat)

--Indo-Asian News Service

______

#6.

[The URL to a news report is posted below on a virulent anti=20
minorities and communal speech by Chief Minister Narendra Modi in=20
Gujarat. The fact that a foremost political leader of the BJP can=20
make such hateful speeches while organising a mass public campaign=20
needs to be checked, if not this can lead to a violent breakdown of=20
the situation in Gujarat. Please feel free to write to the Chief=20
Justice of India
E-mail: supremecourt@h...
Fax: +91 (0)11-3018028 / 3383792
(For sending a free fax via e-mail go to: http://www.tpc.int/sendfax.html) =
]

o o o

'Teach a lesson to those multiplying population'
Rathin Das
(Becharji (Mehsana district), September 9)

<http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/printedition/100902/detNAT04.shtml>http=
://www.hindustantimes.com/news/printedition/100902/detNAT04.shtml

o o o

The Hindu , 10 September 02
Editorial

Modi's sinister designs

THE TONE ADOPTED by the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, and=20
the issues he raised in the course of his `Gaurav Rath Yatra' from=20
Phagwel, have established so clearly that the BJP as a party is bent=20
upon consolidating the "gains" made by the terror campaign unleashed=20
by other Sangh Parivar outfits post-Godhra. The presence of an array=20
of the party's leaders (including Rajnath Singh from the central=20
leadership) at Phagwel is indeed a pointer that the BJP is clearly=20
unwilling to acknowledge the pogrom across the State since February=20
27 as a blot (as described by the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, at=20
that time). The sequence of events leading up to the "Yatra" reveal=20
so clearly the sinister designs behind the campaign and suggest that=20
the developments in Gujarat during the past few months are=20
fundamentally different from the several instances of communal=20
violence witnessed in other parts of the country in the past. While=20
such instances of anti-minority violence - Meerut, Malliana,=20
Bhagalpur, Mumbai and Bhiwandi - during the 1980s could be seen as=20
the immediate consequence of a political campaign where religious=20
passions were whipped up, the events in Gujarat, post-Godhra, point=20
to a pattern where the strategy clearly was to exclude, for ever, the=20
members of the minority community from the democratic space.

The fact that the BJP insists on celebrating the violence unleashed=20
by the stormtroopers of the Sangh Parivar for weeks on end after=20
February 27 (the choice of the word "gaurav" cannot convey anything=20
but this) is a clear enough message about the party's end game. For=20
this very reason, it is difficult to treat the "Gaurav Rath Yatra" as=20
merely another instance of a political party exercising its right to=20
reach out to the people in a democratic set-up. The campaign, in this=20
instance, is clearly aimed at conveying to the members of the=20
minority community across Gujarat the same message that the marauding=20
mobs sent for weeks on end post-Godhra. The majoritarian agenda is=20
being carried out, without even a pause, so that the members of the=20
minority community (and also those within the majority community who=20
do not agree with the Sangh Parivar's agenda) are excluded from the=20
democratic process and this has the full backing of the state. The=20
campaign is rooted in a political strategy that negates the notion of=20
democracy based on pluralist values. For this very reason, the=20
"Gaurav Rath Yatra" cannot be seen as merely a part of the BJP's=20
normal campaign for the State Assembly elections.

The systematic manner in which Mr. Modi and his associates in the=20
Sangh Parivar have been distorting the democratic discourse and=20
running down institutions (the vicious campaign against the Chief=20
Election Commissioner being the latest) only confirms the sinister=20
designs and the extent to which the BJP as a party is willing to go=20
to implement its majoritarian agenda. The dangerous implications of=20
this campaign go beyond that of a party making use of religious=20
identity for political gains. The Sangh Parivar's agenda, as it is=20
being unravelled at every stage of the BJP's moves in the Gujarat=20
context, points out very clearly that the end game is not restricted=20
to mobilisation on communal lines alone and extends to destroying the=20
democratic structure as such. It is becoming clear by the day that=20
the violence against the members of the minority community and their=20
properties was not just the fallout of a failure of the state=20
machinery. Instead, it was an instance where the majoritarian agenda=20
was carried out with precision and determination. This is what is=20
signified by the "Gaurav Rath Yatra". The reality being what it is,=20
it is imperative for the parties opposed to the Sangh Parivar's=20
agenda (the Congress in particular) to realise the dangers ahead and=20
plunge into a campaign that does not stop with the immediate concerns=20
of the Assembly polls in Gujarat.

______

#7.

MODI'S GAURAVA YATRA IS RAURAV YATRA
I.K.Shukla

One great asset or attribute of a hardened criminal is his taciturn=20
silence, his monstrous muteness. Time and again his rare but laconic=20
mutterings convey, however unwittingly, far more in their seemingly=20
idiotic incoherence and plain lunacy than a formal confession or a=20
sworn statement. The test never fails whether it is Veerappan or=20
Modi, or other Hindutva ogres stalking the land as incarnations of=20
Caracalla, Caligula, Mussolini, and Hitler.

Recall how so vocal protagonists of HinduTalibanism as AdVani and=20
Prime Payee, from time to time, go mute. Or, when they spasmodically=20
recall that they have a vocal chord which, if long left unexercised,=20
might go defunct, they suddenly stir, sputter, and spew a few words,=20
leaving the meanings to be decoded and deciphered by both the=20
specialist and the man on the street. And, as A.G.Noorani pointed out=20
in his Division of Labor not long ago, even these disjointed=20
articulations, vicious or venial, are well planned in advance and=20
therefore have to be cryptic, verging on the mumbo jumbo. All cults=20
need and copyright an essentialist abracadabra as their own trade=20
mark. The saffronazis have their own frenzied incantations and bloody=20
rituals.

Narendra Modi, flagging off the Pride Parade (Gaurav Yatra) in=20
Phagvel, Gujarat, delivered himself of some home truths, but whether=20
through Freudian slippage or the habitual handicap of dysphasia, we=20
would never know. And, it is not important. That he can speak is=20
itself a wonder, both to us and him. It verges on the discovery of a=20
curio, as it were. Little did he know that he gave himself away in=20
all his nudity, in all his brutality.

He grunted: "those showing unconcern with (contempt for?) Gujarat's=20
greatness will bite the dust." A monumental axiom, indeed. But the=20
carrion of the wiseacre stinks so hard. The greatness he had in mind,=20
and his adherents espouse, was constituted of massive carnage against=20
Muslims (previously, against Christians) which rained blood and fire=20
on the besieged minorities, with no weapons to defend their honor or=20
lives, and no routes of escape from the "Hindu" barbarians.

This criminality and cowardice of Hindu lumpens was touted by Modi=20
and his ilk as newly awakened Hindu bravery. And, this criminality=20
and cowardice, i.e., new-found Hindu bravery, a Shocking Ghoul of=20
leather face has promised, would be repeated all over India, and=20
Muslims corralled in refugee camps. In point of fact, this satanic=20
project would turn all of India into a vast refugee camp. Have hounds=20
of his cabal not already accomplished this feat? But, memory is=20
conspicuous by its absence in their endowments. That is why the=20
saffronazis hate and keep destroying India's historical and cultural=20
memory so relentlessly, so frenetically, so tirelessly.

Gujarat=92s Nero screamed, with good reason: "Sonia Gandhi and Congress=20
cannot reach Gandhinagar via Godhra. Gujarat will not let them." Modi=20
believes he is Gujarat. Congress will not, and cannot, reach=20
Gandhinagar via Godhra. And, no one in his senses anywhere would have=20
Sonia and Congress wish or do so. Why? Because the Godhra route to=20
Gandhinagar is by rights BJP's, Modi's, ADVani's. It is too clogged=20
with Muslim corpses, too splattered with the blood of brutalised=20
Muslims, too bumpy with piles of charred Muslim bodies, too dotted=20
with craters and mass graves of innocent Muslim children, Muslim=20
fetuses, gang-raped Muslim women, torched Muslim men, tangled and=20
torn fragments of Muslims, too cluttered with looted and stolen goods=20
of Muslims, too scarred with desecrated idgahs, shrines, mosques and=20
monuments, and too disfigured with the debris of demolished Muslim=20
homes and shops, too gaping with destroyed Muslim memories and=20
markers.

Why would Congress want to snatch this singular distinction of=20
barbarism from Modi and his Hindutva gangsters? Modi will have, in=20
this ghastly 'Hindu=92 enterprise, as his pathological and pernicious=20
collaborators' his soul mates from the saffronazi sty of BJP-Bajrang=20
Dal-VHP- Durga Vahini-Shiv Sena.

Modi can rest assured he has no competitors or rivals in his Ride to=20
Raurav, the most terrible of hells in Hindu mythology, which he,=20
gifted with moral odium and mental opacity, perversely calls Pride=20
Parade or Gaurav Yatra. It is foggy, suitably =96 whose pride? whose=20
parade? Gujarat's? Modi's? Who will vie with them for this "honour"?

Gujarat needs urgently only one parade to cleanse its soul of the=20
filth Modis filled it with:
Modi and his cohorts, shaved heads, ashes smeared over their bodies,=20
faces tarred, ears feathered, riding donkeys, marching through the=20
entire length and breadth of Gujarat. The only 'concession' in his=20
favor: he would be kept standing erect, unwavering and undulating,=20
with the help of large tongs, to ensure his pre-eminence in the Ride=20
to Raurav.

He revealed another ability of his: he can count, besides grunting.=20
"Sonia Gandhi in her Porbandar visit mentioned Godse 13 times, Gandhi=20
3 times". Wow! The guy is learning fast. Did he want her to mention=20
Godse 8 million times, inculpating all Gujarat in the horrendous=20
crimes committed under his command according to his diabolic design?=20
It is he who handed over Gujarat to Godse's man-eating ghost right=20
when he took over - Christians, Tribals, Muslims all would testify.=20
Could he not bear Gandhi mentioned even 3 times by Sonia in the=20
Gujarat of Godse and of his deputy Modi? Can he count the times he=20
mentions Gandhi in his speeches? Or, he fears Gandhi would shudder at=20
and refuse being mentioned by him? Does Modi know the significance of=20
13 in Hindu life?
He being a fake Hindu would not. Sonia gave a "peaceful" burial to=20
Godse, however symbolic, however unwittingly, by uttering (if she=20
did) his name 13 times, so that he ceases damaging and devouring=20
Gujarat henceforth and spares it the ignominy heaped over it by his=20
arch acolyte Modi and his Hindutva lumpens and goons.

Gandhi Nagar (in Ahmedabad) is the parliamentary constituency of=20
AdVani, the major domo of Babri demolition and he of Toyota Trail of=20
Blood and Fire fame. Godhra is the memorial Modi raised in his own=20
honor. This combo of an indicted Home Minister of Govt. of India,=20
previously involved, as alleged, also in the plot to kill Jinnah, and=20
guilty of hawala scam among others, ironically, is riding to power on=20
a name (Gandhi-Nagar) he hates and decries. He did not deem thousands=20
of dead and homeless Indian citizens worthy of his visit or any=20
succour.

Modi, crawling on and seeking ascent to the crest of power in Gujarat=20
via Godhra, is afraid and ashamed of naming this ladder, this=20
recidivist route, this achievement of his.
It is this schizophrenia of neurotics that characterizes Hindutva.=20
Gandhi's name was mentioned by Rajnath Singh, the BJP General=20
Secretary, at the Raurav Yatra (Ride to Hell), along with that of=20
Sardar Patel. But he is an outsider. And, once is too much. BJP=20
suffers from dyspepsia at Gandhi's name.

Tailpiece: Consistent liar that he is, Akhand Bharat Vajpayee (or=20
Atom Bomb Vajpayee, take your pick) told an Arab daily recently that=20
BJP believes in secularism and pluralism and in Bharat the minorities=20
(Muslims) suffer from no discrimination. True. They suffer only from=20
demonization, decapitation, despoliation, degradation, devastation,=20
but not discrimination. Remember, he went to Vatican to tell the Pope=20
that Christians enjoyed total security of life and limb in Bharat.=20
That was after Dangs and Orissa. This Prime Payee is Asatya Bhashi=20
Vajpayee (a liar). How appositely named, and how so presciently! Poor=20
soul, he is just living up to his name. How can you hold him=20
responsible when his life was long ago dedicated to gods, and Godses?

9Sep.02

______

#8.

ATTACKS ON HIV/AIDS WORKERS IN INDIA

Widespread police harassment of HIV/AIDS outreach workers in India,=20
especially those working with women in prostitution and men who have=20
sex with men, is undermining efforts to contain one of the worst=20
epidemics in the world. HRW released a report, "Epidemic of Abuse:=20
Police Harassment of HIV/AIDS Outreach Workers in India," at the XIV=20
International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain in July. The report=20
drew extensive press attention throughout India and the world, both=20
at the time of its launch and when former President Bill Clinton=20
described the results of the report in his closing speech to the=20
Barcelona Conference. It is too early to judge the impact of this=20
report in India, but NGOs plan to use the report in a hearing in the=20
Delhi High Court on their petition to repeal the antiquated sodomy=20
law in the Indian Penal Code.
The national AIDS program in India is funded largely by a World Bank=20
loan. Human Rights Watch spoke with the head of the World Bank AIDS=20
evaluation mission, which was scheduled to begin its work in August,=20
suggesting human rights issues that should figure in the Bank's=20
evaluation of the national AIDS program.

Read the report at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/india2/

______

#9.

Mansoor Khan
Producer Director
24 Pali Hill, Bandra,
Mumbai 400 050.
Tel: 022-600-1119
Fax: 022-649-0662

To
B. N. Kirpal,
Chief Justice of India,
Supreme Court, New Delhi
6 September 2002

Honorable Chief Justice,

SUB: Submergence without rehabilitation of adivasi villages in Narmada
Valley.

I am a resident of Mumbai and a citizen concerned with issues of equity a=
nd
justice. It is with a tremendous sense of grief and disbelief that I must
bring to your attention the violation of the October 2000 Supreme Court
order on the Narmada case.

I had made a visit to the Narmada Valley in August, 2002. I was able to
get an idea of the kind of hardships and issues that the local people there
are facing with the onset of the monsoon and the increase of the Sardar
Sarovar dam height to 95 metres.

I returned to Mumbai but being concerned decided to rush back on 1 Sept,
2002 as there were all indications that waters were rising fast due to heav=
y
rains in the area. This time the water rose by more than 4 metres, upto 10=
7
m above Mean Sea Level, in a matter of hours, submerging all the houses in
one hamlet of Domkhedi, Maharashtra. In the neighbouring Sikka village, 9
houses were washed away and 50 households were trapped when water surrounde=
d
them from all sides making it an island. Had the waters risen another 3
metres these people would have surely died. There was no way for them to
escape.

I traveled down the river by boat and on talking to local people I
discovered that more than 100 houses and low-lying fields, that provide the=
m
a year=EDs food, in every affected village, have been submerged on 2nd and =
3rd
September in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. At 95 m + 3m humps
height of the dam the backwater levels can reach up to 117m + 3m, so we hav=
e
really subjected our people to a test of fate.

I am enclosing 2 photographs that I took in a tribal village. They show =
a
hamlet before and after the water rising and illustrate the horror of
dam-induced submergence. The actual submergence took only 24 hours. It
shows why it is imperative that rehabilitation be completed 6 months prior
to submergence as per ruling of the Supreme Court. I saw people trying to
save their family, belongings, years supply of food and cattle.

The Maharshtra Government had rightly said in the meetings of the Narmada
Control Authority and also filed affidavits in the Supreme Court stating
that their Task Force needed more time to complete the survey of project
affected people and therefore the dam height should not be raised from 90 t=
o
95 metres. Despite this the dam height was raised by the NCA and the
Gujarat government. On opposite banks of the Narmada in Madhya Pradesh too=
,
I saw houses floating away and fields submerged with the rehabilitation of
thousands pending.

Large scale destruction has happened and the relief work needed is
unbelievable. Lives are in danger as waters can still rise this monsoon.
The R & R sub-group and the NCA ignored the fact that rehabilitation is
pending while permitting the raising of the dam height to 95 metres.

I am sending by courier a video that I shot. This video not only shows
the destruction, of houses farms and villages in Madhya Pradesh and
Maharashtra but also shows people standing and shivering in neck-deep water=
s
as they tried to the extent possible to move their things to safety. Medha
Patkar and other concerned citizens of India stood in solidarity with the
adivasi people for over 40 hours in these rising waters.

As you know thousands of families in Maharshtra, Madhya Pradesh and even
Gujarat are yet to be provided alternate cultivable land and housing in
their respective states and till that is done they have no choice but to
face such illegal submergence created by the raising of the dam in
violation of the Narmada Tribunal Award. Also families should be
compensated for the losses suffered in terms of loss of homes, a year=EDs
supply of crops as well as cattle and property.

I sincerely hope that you will take whatever action you deem fit to prevent
any further submergence, and ensure that the dam height is not increased
till there is a just and truthful rehabilitation of all the project affecte=
d
people.

Thanking you,
Sincerely,

Mansoor Khan
---
A film-maker journeys from Qayamat to Narmada Valley
Indian Express Sept 6, 2002.
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

THE old man shivers - his face a blank - in the water that has just
swallowed his house. The places are villages in the districts of Nandurbar,
Jhabua and Baruch in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat,
the issue the heightening of the Narmada Valley dam flouting the rules of
the Supreme Court. The people, Narmada Bachao Andolan claims, are those up
for rehabilitation who are still to see any signs of it. "These were houses
in a row where people could walk five days ago and with no warning, flood
waters have taken away everything," says Hindi film director Mansoor Khan,
who has recorded this footage.
At a gathering on Thursday evening, Khan presented his documentation along
with coordinator of the National Alliance of People's Movement M G Sanjay
and University of Wisconsin doctorate student Aravinda Pillalamarri who has
worked four years at the various sites looking at alternate sources of
energy. "This is not about the villagers=ED rehabilitation immediately. The
flood waters can go up and down in 24 hours. It is an unacknowledged crisis
by the authorities," elaborates Khan.
This is as far as you can get from dreamy song and dance, dramatic love
stories and heartwarming college romances that Khan has positioned in his
films 'Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander', 'Akele Hum Akele Tum',
'Josh' and of course the one that started it all - 'Qayamat Se
Qayamat Tak'. But this engineering student himself seems removed from the
conventional picture of a Hindi film director, describing himself as
"anti-city" and one who gets "kicked about figures and facts".
"I'm not an activist in the pure sense of the word," he clarifies, "I'm an
independent individual with concern." Khan has made four visits to the
Narmada sites so far (a week each time), the previous one was in April when
he covered three villages before the monsoon submerged them all.
After recordings of submerged ancient temples in Hapeshwar, Gujarat and the
villages of Jalsindhi (MP) and Domkhedi, Neemgava in Maharashtra where
tribals stoically weather the catastrophe, Khan says how it all began with
a wry grin. "It was in 1996 that I became aware, when the Mumbai
Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) took away my farmland
to make a gateway in Wadhawan. It=EDs only when you have a toothache that y=
ou
go to the dentist," he says.
Khan began reading up on displacement then and got involved in the Mangrove
Action Group. This footage will not form into a documentary by the
film-maker, but it was done for his "personal growth and as part of my
social conscience". [...]

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