[sacw] SACW | 15 April. 02

Harsh Kapoor aiindex@mnet.fr
Mon, 15 Apr 2002 01:05:16 +0100


South Asia Citizens Wire Dispatch | 15 April 2002
http://www.mnet.fr

[ Important Notice: Regular SACW dispatches will be interrupted 
between April 16 - April 24, 2002]

__________________________

#1. Pakistan : Report from Joint Action Committee for Peace seminar 
on 'Sectarian Terrorism and the Future of Democracy in Pakistan'
#2. India: Documents and Letters from Aman Ekta Manch
#3. India: Nationwide protest actions to demand the dismissal of the 
Modi Government. (17 April )
#4. India: Rally of Indian Muslims who want peace
#5. Op-Ed.s and reports from the Indian Media today:
- Godhra revisited (Jyoti Punwani )
- Get us out of Gujarat: Muslim officers (Janyala Sreenivas)
- Riots were planned: UK mission (Saurabh Shukla)
- Gandhi on Religion & communalism (Bipan Chandra)
- Why Modi must go (Namita Bhandare)
- VHP now building up Hindu unity in Sri Lanka (M.R. Narayan Swamy)
- No compensation for Gujarat victims: activists (Ehtashamuddin Khan)

__________________________

#1.

Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 17:14:01 +0500

REPORT

JAC seminar on 'Sectarian Terrorism and the Future of Democracy in Pakistan'

KARACHI: Prominent citizens spoke out against sectarianism, particularly the
targeted killing of doctors, at a seminar on 'Sectarian Terrorism and the
Future of Democracy in Pakistan' organized by the Joint Action Committee for
Peace at the Karachi Press Club on April 12. The seminar was attended by
representatives of major political parties, civil society organisations,
trade unions, journalists, doctors and lawyers, retired military personnel
and students.

The seminar was presided over by Mr M.B. Naqvi, President of the Pakistan
Peace Coalition, and moderated by Moazzam Ali. Bout 500 people are estimated
to have attended the event, which started late because of late arrivals as
well as problems with the sound system. JAC displayed black banners with
slogans written in white, in Urdu and English, reading: 'Stop the Brutality
in Palestine and India', 'Stop Doctors' Killings', 'Protect Religious
Minorities in India', No to Sectarianism', 'End the Mass Murder of Doctors'.
In order to minimize chances of tension at this sensitive event, no banners
by political parties or any of the participating organisations were allowed.

As they arrived, members of the audience were asked to write down their
opinion on how sectarian violence could be combated; JAC will compile these
responses. Moazzam Ali gave some examples, using suggestions that had been
voiced at a JAC planning meeting. These include:
- Keep religion separate from politics
- Ban sectarian outfits
- Respect all religions
- Implement existing laws against sectarian violence
- Mainstream the education system of the madaris
- End the interference of intelligence agencies in national matters.
- Pakistan should be made a secular state.

Nuzhat Kidvai, who has been active with Womens Action Forum and JAC since
their inception, talked about sectarianism as a way of further dividing our
society, that has already been fragmented by the discriminatory laws introdu
ced by Gen. Zia - for example, in just three years after the implementation
of the Hudood laws, 7000 women were dragged through the courts. Even if they
were acquitted later, the experience destroyed their homes and families.
"Our men did not stand with us against this first injustice," she said.
Since then there has been an increase in gang rape, incest, violence against
women in general. We have to now get together for peace, she said, and the
sectarian menace can't be stopped without the cooperation of the police and
the intelligence agencies.

Khalid Junejo from Jeay Sindh Mahaz stressed that religion should be kept
out of politics, and pointed out that the public has always supported
secular, liberal thoughts. "Those in power are responsible for ending
sectarianism, but they themselves have promoted it," he said, adding that
the feudals, religious parties and those who come to power with army support
come together to crush the alliance of secular populists. He gave some
concrete suggestions for checking this problem: Separate religion from
politics, de-weaponise society, acknowledge the diversity of Pakistan's
citizens.

Famous poetess Fehmida Riaz pointed out that although representatives of
minority communities are being killed, there is no atmosphere of
sectarianism in the country. "I salute the citizens of Karachi particularly,
and of Pakistan in general, for having resisted the best efforts of 
those who are attempting to create sectarianism in society" she said. 
She also pointed to the
international hand behind these apparently sectarian killings, and the
attempt to isolate Iran by surrounding it with militant Sunni Wahabi states.
This process began in Pakistan with the sectarian agenda of the madaris, and
the targeted killings are part of this bigger conspiracy, in which the
rulers of Pakistan are fully involved, she said. "The people of Pakistan can
never be a part of this conspiracy, and we have to acknowledge that they
have defeated it by not rising to the sectarian bait."

Yusuf Mastikhan of the National Workers Party pointed out that the problem
cannot be checked by administrative measures alone, although these measures
can stop it for a while. "But when the pot boils over, it boils over with
more force," he pointed out.

Farooq Sattar, Deputy Convenor of the MQM's Rabita Committee and a former
Mayer of Karachi said that the divisions being created on the referendum
issue were taking up all the energies of political workers. "The people have
always rejected extremism. On this we don't need a referendum," he said.
"They have openly expressed their views, through elections and other ways.
It is unfortunate that this majority view needs to be constantly reinforced
through conferences and seminars. These killings are not sectarian in
nature, so let's not play into the hands of vested interests by calling them
that." The problems in Karachi exist because the decisions and powers lie
with Islamabad. There has to be provincial autonomy. "We should decide how
much money the army and the defence forces need. There has to be
accountability on all levels."

He said it was a shame that there is no regional trade. Sixty per cent of
India's trade is with Islamic countries, as compared to only five per cent
of Pakistan's - the remaining 95 per cent of our trade is with Western
countries, said Mr Sattar.

The response of the present system is evident in the way the administration
reacted to cold blooded murder of a young trader in the electronics market,
by baton charging those who had gathered to protest this murder. The
National Highway Authority which is headed by a Lt. General, is contracting
out the Lyari Expressway to the Frontier Works Organisation. It's a matter
of you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours, he said.

Dr Asghar Mirza, Editor of the Pakistan Medical Association's Urdu journal
'Nabs', attended the seminar at very short (one hour's) notice, because the
PMA's elected representatives were all otherwise engaged, after having
committed to attend the seminar. Dr Mirza said that doctors were being
identified and killed, despite their community oriented services. PMA's call
for strikes is not the answer, he said, and it is a shame that there have to
be guards outside places of religious worship. He expressed his
disappointment at the sparse attendance by doctors at the event, saying that
even if one doctor had come for every doctor who had been killed, there
would be over 80 doctors at the seminar - as opposed to the handful who were
there. He also requested the political parties to create awareness about
these killings.

Rahila Tiwana of the Sindh Democratic Alliance reiterated that sectarianism
was not the issue. She said that since Pakistan was made in the name of
religion, all religions should be protected. It is outsiders disguised as
Pakistanis who are doing this, she said. She asked where the guns and
weapons had come from and who is using them.

Sabihuddin Ghausi, President of the Karachi Press Club and a senior economic
reporter, plainly said that there is no point in talking about 'the future
of democracy' as the seminar's title said, since there has never been any
democracy in the country. "Elections alone do not mean democracy, democracy
means tolerance. And although there is no sectarianism at the grassroots
level in Pakistan, there is no tolerance either." Terrorism there has been
from the start, he said, beginning with the mass murder of innocents in 1947
in the name of religion. "Later, Mumtaz Daultana used money from the
Taleem-e-Balghan funds in order to start the anti-Ahmedi riots and create a
pretext for martial law and get rid of Khwaja Nazimuddin." The Objectives
Resolution was made an operative part of the Constitution, and later we had
the 'head bashing' by Gen. Zia, and now by Gen. Musharraf. All uniformed
persons who have been in power have been enemies of the state, interested
only in perpetuating their rule, he said.

These issues are not Pakistan's alone, but also exist in India and
Bangladesh, all of South Asia. To solve these problems, we can't remain
isolated from the region, we have to have ties with India, with Bangladesh,
and the other South Asian countries. Banning parties is not the answer, this
is an issue of the people that the people have to rise and solve, he
concluded.

Umar Baloch of the Labour Party of Pakistan traced the present situation to
the time of the 1965 war when the emerging socialist forces were crushed by
GAT, IMF, World Bank; during the Cold War, the CIA spent millions (10 arab)
dollars to fund parties like the Shiv Sena, RSS, Jamat-e-Islami. "During the
Afghan War, the CIA along with our generals and the ISI smuggled 800 tons of
heroin a year in order to fight the 'Islamic Jehad', using weapons made in
Israel. It is not us who are enemies of the state, but these men in uniform,
for whom even a Punjabi is a traitor now (Nawaz Sharif). And now they want
us to vote for the man who was responsible for Kargil. 68,000 workers have
been rendered jobless, thousands more are waiting to be thrown out, 5000
industrial units are closed, Afghanistan betrayed". He demanded a complete
boycott of the referendum, saying that "the people of Pakistan want
democracy not rule by Generals, who are the ones who started sectarianism.

Taj Haider, Central Information Secretary, PPP, said that the all important
area of defence should be given to the provinces. "As long as Defence is
with the Centre, there will be no changes." He said there had been a basic
compromise on the issue of whether sectarianism should be tolerated or the
minorities given their rights. "Pakistanis are basically against extremism,
but are reaping the seeds of religious hatred that were sowed years ago." He
pointed out that religious extremists can never come into the political
mainstream, they have never got more than 3 per cent of the vote bank, as
opposed to India where religious parties are actually in power through
democratic means. This can only happen in Pakistan as a result of a
compromise with the axis of western interests and the Pakistan army. Western
powers are supporting religious extremists in Israel, India, Pakistan. He
said that the slogan of 'religious duty' and 'jehad' influences many young
minds, and the people's existing sentiments against western powers are also
exploited.

"Recently, some of these extremists have been arrested after international
pressure. Why have cases not been registered against them? Because the
Pakistan army's and the agencies' role in the matter will be exposed. This
permanent axis is dangerous for democracy in Pakistan."

Mairaj Mohammad Khan of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf pointed out that 4 and a
half crore people live below the poverty line in Pakistan, with no access to
health or education. If a worker's father is ill, he wouldn't be able to
afford a cure. A husband and wife committed suicide together in the Punjab,
because they were ill, and they saw how their children were struggling to
pay the bills. In their suicide note they said they couldn't bear to see
their children suffer, and deny themselves food in order to provide
medicines for the parents. This is not the Pakistan of the Quaid-e-Azam,
this is the Pakistan of feudals and US pimps. He said that going through his
original copy of the 1973 Constitution the other day, he found no reference
to any referendum.

He said that democracy emerges naturally after the end of feudalism and with
the advent of industrialization and the concept of human rights. Our rulers
will never let this happen. "Pakistan is at the biggest crisis of its
history," he said. "How can Shias and Sunnis co-exist peacefully in such a
situation, and if they do, someone is sent to spoil the relationship, kill a
Shi'ite intellectual, spoil Pakistan's relationship with Iran." The
phenomenon of sectarianism was created by the ISI during the Afghan war to
isolate Iran, he added. The wall chalkings proclaiming that to live in
Pakistan you have to be a Sunni are strange. What sect did the Quaid-e-Azam
belong to?

"Pakistan was made by Quaid-e-Azam, in his first speech to Pakistan's
Constituent Assembly (Aug 11 1947) he said you are free to go to your
temples and mosques, this has nothing to do with the business of the state.
He also said, Pakistan will not be a theocratic state," he said. There are
religious differences, we believe in religious freedom. We need to start
working again, mobilizing thousands of students to march through the streets
proclaiming Shia Sunni unity. If a 100.000 people march on this issue, who
will dare to target anyone?

In addition, the devolution of power to the provinces was never granted, and
the Bengalis kept asking for their rights which we denied. Now Sindhis,
Balochis, are also demanding their rights - if these are not granted, they
have a right to rebel. There has to be provincial autonomy. Speaking against
the defence budget allocation, he said, "If I give all my wife's salary
(that she earns while I indulge in politics) to the chowkidar who guards my
house, how will I run my house, feed and educate my children?"

Although the electricity broke down in the middle of Mairaj Khan's speech,
no one got up to leave. He continued without a mike, and the seminar
concluded with M.B.Naqvi, President Pakistan Peace Coalition of which JAC is
a member organization, pointing out that democracy did not just mean
elections - after all Hitler and Mussolini also came to power through
elections. There has to be provincial autonomy and respect for human life.
All citizens of the state, whether they be Hindus, Muslims or Christians,
must be given equal rights. Only then will there be democracy, and the power
of sectarianism broken.

JAC Karachi is an umbrella organization which provides a platform for
collective action on current issues. It comprises several NGOs and civil
society organizations, and also has political party and trade union
representation. The organizations and parties currently under JAC's umbrella
include: APTUC, Amnesty International Pakistan, Aurat Foundation, Forum for
Peace and Development, HRCP, HREP, Idara-e-Amn-o-Insaf, International
Socialists, Labour Party Pakistan, Karachi Bar Association, Medical
Equipment Aid, Reformers, Sindh High Court Bar Association, OPP, Piler, PMA,
Progressive Youth Council Gazdarabad, Shirkat Gah, WAR, WAF, Working Women's
Association, and Urban Resource Centre.

(ends)

_____

#2.

Documents and Letters from Aman Ekta Manch
Genocide in Gujarat : A backgrounder (April 2002)
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/AEMbackgrounder.html
Letter to industrialists and Business Associations in the aftermath 
of Gujarat riots (April 2002)
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/AEMindustryletter.html
Letter to Allies of the BJP in the NDA coalition (April 2002)
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/AEMlettertoBJPgovallies.html

_____

#3.

Nationwide protest actions to demand the dismissal of the Modi Government.

Wednesday, 17th April 2002: Protest march in Delhi called by 
Janmorcha comprising of CPI(M), CPI , FB, RSP, JD(S), SP, and about 
150 mass organisations. Assemble at JANTAR MANTAR [New Delhi] at 
11am.

The genocide that has been and continues to be committed in Gujarat 
is known to everyone. The BJP, RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and other 
outfits of the Sangh Parivar have converted Gujarat into a laboratory 
to test their agenda of imposing a Hindu Rashtra and fascist rule on 
the people of the country.

The democratic and secular people of the country cannot allow the 
Sangh Pariwar to succeed in their designs. We have to build wider 
resistance to defeat these designs. The march on 17th April must be 
massive. We appeal to each one of you to participate and to urge your 
friends, colleagues, students to also join it.

Please pass the word around and forward this message to your friends.

A.N.ROY, President / KRISHNA SENGUPTA, Secretary (DTF)

_____

#4.

Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 23:26:32 -0700 (PDT)

Dear friends

Looking at yesterday's newspapers, you (assuming that you are an 
Indian Muslim) must have realized that you are a Jehadi, according to 
the Prime Minister Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpai. Look at some of his 
comments in yesterday's BJP meet at Goa:

"Wherever there are Muslims, they do not want to live with others 
(who practise different faiths). Instead of living peacefully, they 
want to preach and propagate their religion by creating fear and 
terror in the minds of others.''

"No one should challenge us about India's secularism and no one 
should teach us about tolerance...We were secular even in the early 
days when Muslims and Christians were not here. We have allowed them 
to do their prayers and follow their religion. No one should teach us 
about secularism."

Earlier, in the RSS meet in Bangalore, they have already told the 
muslims to beg the hindus for their favour and goodwill etc. for 
survival. The point is that all these comments and speaches are 
giving a very wrong message to the people at large, and since not 
very many muslims are speaking up against them, things are getting 
worse. How long can we sit and tolerate being dubbed the Jihadis 
whereas most Indian muslims wish to live in this country peacefully. 
Shouldn't we stand up and talk to the prime minister and the BJP 
govt. directly and ask for explaination.

We request all of you to please come for a rally of Indian Muslims 
who want peace, that we are planning in the near future in Delhi - to 
take a memorandum of protest against what his govt. is doing. Please 
keep in touch for a final date for this rally. And kindly visit this 
website for more details. Also send us contact details and emails of 
Indian muslims who want a peaceful livelihood in India. The site is: 
<http://indianmuslim.sphosting.com/>http://indianmuslim.sphosting.com/

Kindly give your suggestions, and forward this mail to more interested people.

Yousuf Saeed, M. Naim, Sabia Khan and others
Indian Muslims for Peace

<http://indianmuslim.sphosting.com/>http://indianmuslim.sphosting.com/

_____

#5. [ Op-Ed.s and reports from the Indian Media today]

The Hindu, Monday, Apr 15, 2002
Opinion - Leader Page Articles
Godhra revisited
By Jyoti Punwani
Godhra's Muslims and Hindus tread the middle ground privately... The 
challenge lies in getting them to acknowledge this in public.
WHEN WILL the Gujarat fire burn out? A first step can be for both 
communities to apologise to each other. Believe it or not, the 
religious head of the Muslims in Godhra, where the conflagration 
began, has already done this more than once at peace meetings called 
by the Collector.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2002041500161000.htm

o o o

Indian Express, Sunday, April 14, 2002

Get us out of Gujarat: Muslim officers
Banks, PSUs, Railways get transfer applications saying move us on 
'humanitarian grounds'
Janyala Sreenivas
Ahmedabad, April 13: Several Gujarat Muslim employees of PSUs, 
banks, private firms and even the Railways, have requested for a 
transfer outside the state, most of them through their unions.
http://www.indian-express.com/full_story.php?content_id=840

o o o

The Hindustan Times, April 15, 2002
Riots were planned: UK mission
Saurabh Shukla
(New Delhi, April 14)
The British High Commission in the Capital has reported to the 
British Foreign Office in London that the continuing violence in 
Gujarat is aimed at removing Muslim influence from parts of the state.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/150402/detfro03.asp

o o o

The Hindustan Times, Monday, April 15, 2002
Truth is god
Bipan Chandra

Nobody has ever questioned that Gandhiji was totally opposed to 
communalism in all its forms.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/150402/detide01.asp

o o o

http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/150402/detpla01.asp 
The Hindustan Times, Monday, April 15, 2002

Why Modi must go
Namita Bhandare

The world I seek I cannot find A new earth, a new sky I cannot find 
(Kaifi Azmi)

What do you say about an administration that watched silently as over 
800 people - the official figure - were killed systematically and 
brutally in what is commonly known as a communal riot but was, in 
fact, a massacre of Muslims?

What do you say about a police commissioner who personally goes in 
his official car to a residential locality and assures one of its 
citizens, a former Congress MP, that he and his neighbours are safe? 
Then he goes away leaving the former MP with another 75-odd Muslims 
to face a mob of hundreds that proceeds to hack the former MP to 
death, urinate on his body and toss his head about before setting 
what is left of his body ablaze. The only people who escaped the 
bloodbath were those who locked themselves up on the first floor, 
watching their husbands, wives, parents and children being 
slaughtered.

And what do you say about a chief minister who is so shameless that 
he claims things are hunky-dory and yet refuses to visit the 103 
refugee camps spread throughout his state, except as a tour guide 
when his boss comes visiting? How many camps has Modi visited? What 
about his ministers and representatives? Where is Gujarat's amazingly 
invisible governor?

Even as Modi was offering his head to his bosses in Goa, the army had 
to be called out in Ahmedabad as 25 shops and houses at Danilimda 
were set on fire. Initial reports say 40 people have been injured. 
And this in a state where the chief minister says normalcy has been 
restored.

Police officers who have done an honest job and saved lives have been 
transferred.

In Sabarmati, Joint Commissioner of Police Shivanand Jha fired at a 
mob that was demanding that some Muslim boys who had been arrested be 
handed over to it. One person died in that firing. Two days later, 
Jha was at Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram where another mob was 
demanding that Medha Patkar be evicted from a peace meeting. In the 
melee, some cameramen and journalists were injured when DCP A.P. 
Parghi led a lathi charge. The next day, Jha, who was actually saving 
correspondents from the lathi charge, was transferred. Coincidence? 
Justice?

To understand the complete breakdown of the state in Gujarat one has 
to consider only three incidents.

In Gandhinagar, where the state government has its offices, the Wakf 
Board office was attacked. For the first time ever, curfew was 
imposed in Gandhinagar.

In another incident, the mob burnt down trucks along with their 
Muslim drivers. This happened at the front gate of the high court - 
another symbol of the Indian State.

And finally, the dargah of Wali Gujarati, the 17th century Urdu poet, 
was vandalised and destroyed. This happened in front of the police 
commissioner's office.

Does the Indian State function in Gujarat - a state where sitting 
judges fear for their lives only because they are Muslim?

According to an opinion poll conducted in Gujarat recently, nearly 70 
per cent people believe the riots were a spontaneous reaction to 
Godhra. Only 9.3 per cent believe it was backed by the State. And 
although 51 per cent conceded that the government machinery was 
communalised, 43 per cent said Modi should stay.

The truth is that Gujarat is deeply polarised. There is a huge 
groundswell of support for Narendra Modi. The average Gujarati Hindu 
feels no remorse at what has happened. Modi is merely reflecting 
majority sentiment when he spouts Newton's laws of action and 
reaction. In that respect, Modi's government is well within its 
'democratic right' to remain in power. Within the BJP, there is a 
large body of opinion that wants an election now, a year ahead of 
when it is actually due. The reason isn't hard to find. A poll might 
sweep the Modi government back into power.

But democracy is also about restoring confidence and maintaining the 
dignity of all citizens - regardless of the god they worship. 
Hitler's pogrom doesn't become justifiable because a majority of 
Germans supported the SS.

Those affected by the riots - and a vast majority of these people are 
Muslim citizens - are today looking for relief and rehabilitation. 
Relief work is on. NGOs are hard at work feeding over one lakh people 
in the camps all over the state. They are working under tremendous 
pressure. Many have received death threats.

Rehabilitation is another matter. And it cannot happen unless justice 
first prevails. Those who are guilty must be brought to book. If the 
Indian State has collapsed, those heading it must go. In Gujarat, the 
state and the mob go hand in hand. So how can justice prevail?

Those in power show no remorse, let alone an indication of firmness 
in dealing with people who break the law of the land. While the 
police is hard at work - rounding up weapons from Muslim localities, 
systematically disarming them to prevent a backlash.

How will history remember Narendra Modi? The man who connived to kill 
minorities in Gujarat and did nothing while they were burnt alive? 
And how will history remember us? As people who watched quietly and 
failed to rage and rage for the ouster of the butcher of Gujarat?

Years of propaganda by the Sangh parivar cannot be wiped out with 
Modi's removal alone. It will take many more years to restore 
communal amity and faith and goodwill. But as long as Modi remains, 
Kaifi Azmi's new world will remain a delusion.

o o o o

VHP now building up Hindu unity in Sri Lanka (IANS SPECIAL)

By M.R. Narayan Swamy, Indo-Asian News Service

Colombo, Apr 14 (IANS) The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is now spreading its
tentacles in Sri Lanka, including in areas under the influence of Tamil
Tiger guerrillas who significantly seem to have no objection.

The VHP, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), India's most
influential Hindu group, has already opened about a dozen units across Sri
Lanka in a bid to build up unity among the country's Tamil-speaking Hindu
minority.

The VHP, which also has close links with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), says Hindus face the danger of
being assimilated by the increasingly assertive and aggressive church in Sri
Lanka.

"Hindus in Sri Lanka are disintegrated. We are trying to bring them
together," a VHP representative from New Delhi, Swami Vigyananand, told IANS
here at the end of a month-long tour that took him for the first time to
areas in the north controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE).

Vigyananand, 38, dressed in giveaway saffron robes like a wandering monk,
attended the April 10 press conference of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran
as an accredited representative of a VHP publication. Although he has been
to Sri Lanka 10 times since 1999, this was the first time he went to
LTTE-held areas.

But he has been many times to Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Amparai in the
country's east and managed to interact with what he believed were LTTE
members. The LTTE controls part of the eastern province and wields great
influence even in places in the region controlled by Colombo. In
Trincomalee, he said, the VHP had started a Sunday school that teaches
religion and the Hindu way of life.

"I made it clear to them (LTTE) that we have nothing for or against their
struggle," the graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur,
said in an interview. "I said we have a problem with Islam and Christianity
and are trying to build up Hindu unity."

The LTTE, which brooks no independent activity by anyone in the areas it
controls or considers its zone of influence, has allowed the VHP to
propagate its views although the rebel group has many Christians in its
ranks and sections of the Tamil Christian clergy strongly back the rebel
cause.

The LTTE's relations with Muslims have been strained over the past decade,
since the guerrillas ordered an estimated 100,000 Muslims out of northern
Jaffna peninsula in 1990 with nothing more than the clothes they wore. Since
then, thousands of Muslims have been living in refugee camps with no hopes
of returning to Jaffna where they have lived for generations.

Sri Lanka is a Buddhist majority country of nearly 20 million. About 18
percent of Sri Lankans are Hindus and eight percent Muslims. All Buddhists
are Sinhalese and all Hindus Tamils. There are significant numbers of
Christians among both the Sinhalese and Tamils.

Vigyananand said he tried to discuss the Hindu religion with middle-ranking
LTTE officials at Killinochchi where Prabhakaran addressed the press. But
one of them ended the discussion saying the Tamil Tigers believed in
"secularism."

The VHP, he said, was also active among Indian plantation Tamils who are
mostly employed in the tea estates of central Sri Lanka. The group was also
interested in helping Hindus to retain control of an ancient Hindu shrine at
Kataragama in southern Sri Lanka, which he said had come "90 percent" under
Sinhalese-Buddhist influence.

But otherwise Vigyananand, who knows only Hindi and English, seemed to have
no objection to Buddhism and sought to emphasise that Buddhism was also
facing threats from the clergy.

"I advised Buddhist monks to go to villages to spread their religion and to
counter Christianity like we have done in India," he said. "As a religion
nobody is suppressing Hinduism in Sri Lanka. But with the exodus of Tamils
and Christian influence growing, Hindus here face problems."

He also accused the clergy of playing a major role in fuelling the Tamil
separatist conflict that has claimed around 60,000 lives in Sri Lanka since
1983 and blamed it for causing a military showdown between the Tigers and
India in 1987-90.

"The more the conflict rages, the more will be the hardship and poverty
among Tamils. And the clergy will try to convert Hindu Tamils."

Vigyananand was greatly impressed by the de facto Tamil state the LTTE runs
in the north.

"They have put up a parallel administration with their own penal code,
judiciary, banks, police and orphanages," he said. "It is a full-fledged
state. We have a lot to learn from them."

o o o o

No compensation for Gujarat victims: activists
By Ehtashamuddin Khan, Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Apr 14 (IANS) Even a month and a half after sectarian violence
broke out in Gujarat, no compensation has been paid to victims and the
situation at relief camps is deteriorating, say Indian rights activists.

"Our people working in the camps have told us that the government is yet to
keep up its promise of awarding compensation to families of the dead,"
activist Syeda Hameed told IANS.

Nearly 830 people have been killed in sectarian violence in Gujarat since
February 27. Most victims have been Muslims, India's largest minority
community.

Fleeing their homes for life, Muslims have taken refuge in makeshift relief
camps, many of which lack basic essentials. The government promised to award
Rs.100,000 for the kin of those killed in the violence and compensate for
the loss of property.

But members of Citizen's Initiative, a platform for peace activists and
religious groups that has been working in relief camps, said nothing had
come the way of victims.

The activists also complained of shortage of food and other relief material
at the camps.

Prakash Louis, director of the Indian Social Institute, said: "People in the
camps immediately need at least some initial compensation. Though there were
several announcements, the process has not yet started.

"Nearly 5,000-10,000 people are living in each camp. The government provides
them food for five days at one go but that hardly lasts for a day. And the
quality of food, especially pulses, is bad."

The government machinery has been accused of being a mute spectator to the
bloodbath that engulfed a large part of the state after a Muslim mob torched
a train at Godhra town February 27, killing 58 people including Hindu
rightwing activists.

The train carnage led to an unprecedented backlash, as Hindu mobs apparently
with tacit government backing went about murdering hundreds of Muslims and
targeting their business establishments.

Louis said most victims of the fury were still in a state of shock and
despite huge problems at the camps they did not want to go back home.

"Some victims at camps that the prime minister visited were offered meagre
sums. That was just a facelift. We need to provide proper rehabilitation.

"Besides, distributing compensation requires assessment of the economic loss
of individuals and proof of those killed. But the government does not seems
to be interested," said Louis.

Added Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande who visited the affected areas twice:
"Compensation is a big thing. Students are not able to write their high
school examinations as the centres are at distant places. They fear to go
out."

Louis said a petition has been filed against the poor condition at relief
camps.

Added Abdul Hameed Nomani of the Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind, which has 52 relief
camps in Gujarat: "There are thousands who worked as daily wagers or
rickshaw pullers. They are left with nothing. They need monetary help to
restart their lives."

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