[sacw] SACW #2 | 17 Mar. 02

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire - Dispatch #2 | 17 March 2002

* For daily news updates & citizens initiatives in post riots=20
Gujarat Check: http://www.sabrang.com
** Also see new information & analysis section on the recent Communal=20
Riots in Gujarat on the SACW web site: http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/

__________________________

Pakistan:
#1. Attack on Church in Pakistan (BBC
#2. Daily killing of doctors (Kunwar Idris)
#3. The steady killings of Shia medical doctors in Karachi and a few=20
other places goes on unabated
( M.B. Naqvi)

India:
#4. A secular goat (Sudip Mallik)
#5. Letter to India's Home Minister (Eduardo Faleiro)
#6. The erosion of Indian secularism (Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema)
#7. In Religious Tinderbox, India Snuffs Spark (Somini Sengupta)
#8. Half-Truths and Misdirection (Mukul Kesavan)
#9. Will the govt rebuild razed, burnt shrines? (Robin David)
#10. Religion doubles up as pin-up, talisman (Amit Mukherjee)
#11. The Local Roots of India's Riots (Ashutosh Varshney)
#12. Of 'Token Punishment' and 'Symbolic Karsewa' (CPIML)
#13. Another demolition in Delhi ( Francois-Xavier Durandy)

__________________________

Pakistan:

# 1.

BBC
Attack on Church in Pakistan
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1877000/1877356.st=
m

o o o

#2.
DAWN, 17 March 2002
Daily killing of doctors
By Kunwar Idris
http://www.dawn.com/2002/03/17/op.htm

o o o

#3.
The steady killings of Shia medical doctors in Karachi and a few other
places goes on unabated

by M.B. Naqvi

Karachi March 11: The steady killings of Shia medical doctors in=20
Karachi and a few other
places goes on unabated. Quite a large number of successful Shia doctors
are thinking of winding up their practices and going abroad; many have
indeed done so. As the Secretary of the Pakistan Medical Association has
said in a BBC interview a heavy brain drain is continuing with medical
doctors and other professionals emigrating out of Pakistan. The domestic
potential for growing political troubles is clearly seen by all. The
politically aware citizens are afraid that if these targetted killings
are not arrested, there may be vigilante action on the part of the Shia
community which can cause a mayhem. That has the potential of putting
the integrity of the whole country at risk.

One of the biggest problems of Pakistan is sectarianism. In its present
form it is quite a recent development and a date can be put on it.
Except for sporadic scuffles and minor clashes once in a decade or so,
there was never a clear-cut division of society along the sectarian
lines. The rise of sectarian consciousness began in the later 1980s as a
result of the ministrations of Gen. Ziaul Haq=92s Martial Law.

The origins of the problem are well over a thousand years old, with the
first major Schism in Islam taking place among the successors to the
Prophet Muhammad in the Saudi Arabia after his death. Since then Shias
are the supporters of one of the four Caliphs of earliest Islam and
regard others as unlawful rulers. The vast majority of Muslims, however,
do not agree and they think that succession that did take place was
quite right. These are the Sunnis. In the Subcontinent the vast majority
of Muslims comprise the Sunnis. In Pakistan also the vast majority is
Sunni, though Sunnis are themselves divided into two denominations: the
Deobandi and Bralevis, the main seminaries of both are located in UP,
India.

The proportion of Shias in Pakistan=92s population is not accurately
known, though the Shias claim that they are 25 per cent whereas others
say they are only 17 per cent. Nevertheless the society in various areas
of Pakistan, characterised by linguistic divisions roughly corresponding
with the current four provinces, is still characterised by tribalism,
with a land tenure system that is in effect feudal, though not in form.
The two sects have lived more or less happily side by side for all these
centuries. The separate consciousness of the sect, with political
significance attached to it, is recent and the discredit for it goes to
the wily General who, in order to counter and contain the popularity of
Pakistan Peoples Party in 1980s, encouraged every form of divisiveness,
especially in Sindh.

Sectarian groups were actually sprang up during Zia=92s Martial Law regime
in 1980s soon after he had suppressed the agitation initiated by
Movement for Restoration of Democracy. In fact his regime, through its
secret agencies, encouraged both sects to have their own organisations
and a lot of knowledgeable people believe that the regime helped arm
them and gave them initial financial aid, though later they grew and
grew with much foreign aid. Other circumstances also arose that favoured
sectarianism in Pakistan.

Pakistan=92s was the only relatively free arena available for Saudi Arabia
and revolutionary Iran to fight their cold war on. It is commonly
believed, though there can never be hard evidence, that the Saudi
Arabians have been funding the Sunni sectarian organisations while the
Iranians have given funds to various or successive Shia bodies.

Over times the top religious leaders have acquired control over some of
these organisations while the Afghanistan Jihad made Saudi Arabia far
more important and more or less enabled it to play a strong hand inside
Pakistan --- a role in which the Iranians could not be denied or
prevented from a similar role. The regime=92s various ideas and good
relations with both Iran and Saudi Arabia, perhaps the better to
concentrate on Afghanistan war at that time, also meant no check on
sectarian bodies. But the net result for Pakistan was a constant
intensification of the respective sectarian consciousness.

Pakistan has the unique record of Muslims killing other Muslims inside
the mosques while the victims were praying. This has happened to both
sects. It was the most unheard of thing that no one could have imagined.
Throughout history, the mosque has been a sanctuary for anyone who
entered there (took asylum) or happened to be there. Only the more
unscrupulous Muslim rulers did not respect this rule. But in Pakistan
from the end of 1980s and to this day such events have taken place form
time to time.

But a relatively new sectarianism grew strong after the rise of Taliban
in Afghanistan i.e. in the later 1990s. This has been engaged in the
steady selective killing of prominent individuals from among the Shias.
The organisation known as Anjuman Sipah-e-Sahaba and its splinter
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi specialises in this gory game, probably under Taliban
influence with whom they had close relations.

Indeed many ASSP leaders and activists, after having been named by the
police in certain crimes, took refuge in Afghanistan with Taliban.
Pakistan government gave a list of several scores of people to the
Taliban government wanting their extradition. The Taliban stoutly
refused.

This campaign of ASSP was initially imitated by its opposite members
among Shias. But that soon petered out. For one thing, the main Shia
political organisation became factionalised and split. Also, because of
the strained relations in Pakistan-Iran relations after 1996, Iranian
aid more or less ended. With that ended Shia militants=92 ability to mount
sectarian operations. But the Sunni outfits remained in possession of
more resources and had better organisation, set up with the help of
Taliban.

ASSP=92s and LJ=92s campaign of killing selected Shias, particularly medica=
l
doctors, is continuing. There was a dip in it in recent months after the
October war. But it has been renewed again and almost every day a
prominent Shia doctor is being killed. Needless to say, assailants,
usually two in a car or on motor bike, get away safely and the police
have almost never been able to trace or nab them. They are too powerful
and well organised for that. They remain several jumps ahead of the
government agencies. There is a great deal of consternation among the
Shias throughout the country, particularly in Karachi and certain areas
of the north where the local balance of power is evenly matched such as
Parachinar in NWFP and Gilgit and Skardu in Northern Areas. In such
places both sides are armed and pitched battles have taken place from
time to time. In each flare up have scores died.

In the 1990s Punjab was gripped by sectarian prejudice and selected
killings were taking place during the later part of the Nawaz Sharif
regime in 1997 and 1998. But coordinated administrative action by the
Punjab and central governments have more or less curbed that explosion
of violence in the Punjab. No so in either NWFP=92s vulnerable areas or in
Karachi. Fortunately the countryside of Sindh is relatively less
affected --- thanks to its more relaxed Sufistic culture where
orthodoxies were never very rigid or extreme. In Baluchistan Quetta and
its environs are said to be more vulnerable because of the presence of
the Hazara tribe (Shias).

All thinking people in Pakistan have been alarmed by the persistence of
the sectarian violence. The way this violence was curbed in Punjab ---
though not entirely eliminated --- is a reminder that the government can
do if it really wants to. Whether it really wants is often questioned
because of a certain usefulness of the sectarian fanatics. Many of the
latter double as Jihadis who are fighting in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Their links with the government are known but what is their precise
nature is a matter for speculation.

When it is said that the sectarian terrorists double as Jihadis, no one
is claiming that exactly the same persons who operate in Sindh, NWFP or
other areas of Pakistan are the individuals who are also taking part in
Kashmir Jihad. The point is that their respective organisations have the
same mother organisation. They all have their spiritual guides in the
various factions of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI), which was also the
spiritual springhead of the Taliban. There is an ineluctable linkage,
mostly ideological and not necessarily organisational, with the JUI
leadership.

There is also the involvement of the government agencies with all these
Jihadi outfits and their mentors; Taliban, the sectarian ASSP and LK and
the Kashmiri Jihadis had the same origins. The state policies at
different times have created various links at various levels between the
government and the various Jihadis. One is told that once such links are
established, they are not deliberately sundered with every change of
state policy, though they may be put in some sort of a freeze. Whatever
the truth, and much of it can only be a speculation, the aware citizens
believe that the government can, if it is really single minded, curb the
sectarian menace.

But the structure of the Pakistani establishment and of the
decision-making is such that despite the all powerful nature of the
military regime, even the Chief Executive could be prevented from
visiting Mulla Omar in Kandhar by his own administration. Although the
Home Minister, whose brother was brutally killed in Karachi, says that
he has paid with blood for his strong line against sectarian terrorists.
He says he means business. The knowledgeable simply smile.

______

INDIA

#4.

>From the Statesman, March 17th 2002

A secular goat

(By Sudip Mallik)

I RETURNED home to find a mob preparing to set it ablaze.
"Hold it, hold it," I yelled, running up to the bearded saffronite=20
who seemed to be spilling most fire. "I'm neither a Hindu nor a=20
Muslim. What have I done wrong?"
"You are lucky you are not a Muslim," snarled the fellow. "If you=20
were, we'd lock you inside and then set the house on fire."
"But why set it on fire at all?" I pleaded. "I haven't even finished=20
paying my loan instalments yet."
"Shut up," he advised. "You may not be a Muslim but you are=20
harbouring one. We know it."
"That's right," piped up a small sevak. "I was passing by when I=20
heard someone say, 'Allah'."
"There's no one in the house," I said desperately. "Unless you count=20
the mice and the goat. You are welcome to take a look."
As I opened the door, I pointed out that the recent budget had sent=20
kerosene prices through the roof, and the precious fluid should not=20
be spilled in vain. Hearing me, the goat gave a cry of joy.
"There!" said the small sevak. "Did you hear that? The voice=20
distinctly said 'Allah'."
"Come on, start the fire," yelled someone impatiently from the back.=20
"Stop wasting time. I know lots of other Muslim houses waiting to be=20
burned. Allah indeed!".
"It's just a goat," I yelled back angrily. "That's the way they=20
speak. Haven't you ever heard one bleat before?"
"Ull-ahh," said the dratted animal as we entered the room where it=20
was tethered.
"That does it," said the bearded bloke. "Somebody get a chopper.=20
We'll turn the goat into keema and roast it on the house."
"Can we have sheesh kebabs?" asked a young sevak, who had yet to grow=20
his whiskers. "I love sheesh kebabs."
"But it is only a kid," I said, returning to my pleading. "It is not=20
even ready to cook."
My pleas were of no avail. The small sevak strode ahead and grabbed=20
the goat by the throat. Its seconds, I feared, were numbered.
"Raaahm," said the grass-eater in strangled terror. "Rrraaahm."
"It said 'Ram'," screamed the sevak, springing back as though=20
electrocuted. The next moment he had stretched out on the floor and=20
appeared to be trying to butt the goat on the hoof.
"It isn't an ordinary goat," pronounced the leader in an awed voice,=20
following his example.
"It's a secular goat," I explained passionately. "I brought it up=20
that way. It would be a mistake to turn it into kebab."
A conference was called. The consensus was that while the goat may or=20
may not have uttered "Allah", there was no doubt it had said "Ram".=20
The animal fortunately stayed silent.
"Maybe we should hold a proper puja to propitiate it," said the=20
hirsute leader sombrely. "We should look upon it as a Holy Cow."
"We could build a temple right here," suggested the small sevak.=20
"Just think. It would save us the trouble of carting bricks all the=20
way to Ayodhya."
"Not in my bedroom," I protested. "Please don't build a temple in my=20
bedroom. I'm basically an atheist. I'd rather you ate the goat."
"I don't want trouble with the goa... gods," said the leader sounding=20
troubled. "I'm just an ordinary troublemaker. Maybe we should call a=20
priest."
The priest said that, in matters of religion, there should be no=20
compromise and recommended that all rituals should be followed. The=20
paraphernalia was laid out with the goat in the middle. The local MLA=20
said a few words on the Sanctity of Goats.
"Om shanti," said the priest, starting the holy fire and dropping=20
some ghee in it. Smoke billowed.
"Jeez-us," sneezed the goat violently. "A-Jishu."
"What the hell?!" said the priest, jumping up. "I thought you said it=20
said 'Ram'. I'm not going to worship any Christian goats. I'm=20
leaving."
He stalked off angrily. Rather crestfallen, the rest filed out after him.

______

#5.

March 15, 2002

Dear Home Minister,

I visited Gujarat recently as a member of the Congress delegation. I have
since been receiving messages from different parts of that State that
inspite of assurances and protestations from the Union and State
Governments, Gujarat continues to burn. Yesterday, Nitin Parmar, a nephew
of our colleague in the Lok Sabha Pravin Rashtrapal was stabbed to death in
the Shahpur locality whilst his father was admitted to V.S. Hospital,
Ahmedabad for treatment of sword injuries. Eight others were also
hospitalized, 4 with stab injuries, one injured in private firing and 3
women with burn injuries. I have also received information that some
extremist organizations have misguided the Adivasis of Vadodra and some
other areas and provide them with cash, liquor and weapons and send them in
thousands to attack defenceless people. "In Panvad taluka the Adivasis
informed the Police in advance that they would attack yet the Police did no=
t
demand deployment of the SRP or the Army and the shops of the Muslims were
looted in front of the Police. The vehicles parked in front of the police
station were also burnt without any fear. Every day some village or the
other is being looted and burnt whilst the local administration sends
messages that the situation is calm and under control. Most of the Muslims
of the surrounding villages have taken shelter in Chotaudaypur. You are
kindly requested to send an effective contingent of the Army so that the
remaining Muslims can live peacefully". These are extracts from a fax
message received by me on March 13 from the residents of some areas in
Vadodra district and I am enclosing the same for your perusal. Defenceless
people of all the different communities are being attacked and are dying in
Gujarat. To avoid further loss of innocent life, Army protection should be
provided in all sensitive areas. The Army across Gujarat has in fact been
pulled back to the barracks though the Police is unable to control the
situation.

2. I am given to understand that there are about 50,000 displaced persons i=
n
several relief camps in Ahmedabad. Another estimated 25-30 thousand
persons have been displaced in other towns and regions of the State. The
foodstuffs being provided by the State Government to these camps are unfit
for human consumption. The State Government having allowed life and
property to be systematically destroyed, has now abdicated its
constitutional duty to provide relief to the victims. In such circumstance=
s
Government of India should step in and provide immediate relief to these
camps in the form of milk, foodgrains of adequate quality, medicines and
medical assistance.

3. The K.G. Shah Commission should be scrapped. Its verdict will lack
credibility. Government should request the Chief Justice of India to appoin=
t
a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court or of any High Court outside Gujarat t=
o
hold the inquiry into the incident at Godhra and subsequent events.

4. The role of the Police in Gujarat has been scandalous. Eye witnesses sa=
y
that our former colleague in Parliament Ehsan Jaffri contacted the Police
several times on March 1, the day of his death, and that he expected that
the Police Commissioner C.P. Pandey would protect his life and his family
but that was not to be. The Gujarat Police cannot be trusted with a fair
and impartial investigation hence I urge that the task of criminal
investigation relating to the recent violence in Gujarat should be handed
over to the CBI.

5. A report in the Hindi newspaper Jan Morcha published from Ayodhya by
Sheetla Prasad and dated 24.2.2002 i.e. 3 days before the massacre at Godhr=
a
is captioned "Bajrang Dal Activists on Sabarmati Express beat up Muslims,
forcing them to shout Jai Shri Ram Slogans" (English translation). Similar
reports were also published in the international press including the
Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and New York Times. Yet the intelligence
agencies of the Union and State Governments remained inactive and as a
result the gruesome incidents took place. May I request you to look into
this matter and take necessary steps to fix responsibilities.

6. A pamphlet in Gujarati is being widely circulated across the State
calling for total economic boycott of muslims including muslim shops, films
in which muslims act, any form of employment for muslims etc. Inciting suc=
h
communal hatred is an offence under the Indian Penal Code. Government
should take immediate action to apprehend the culprits. I am enclosing a
copy of the pamphlet.

7. In a tape recorded interview to Rediff.com Prof. Keshav Ram Kashiram
Shastri, the chairman of the Gujarat unit of the Vishva Hindu Parishad
stated that the shops in Ahmedabd were looted on the basis of a list
prepared by the VHP in advance. "In the morning we sat down and prepared
the list" he revealed. He added that the situation could get aggravated an=
d
bigger riots were possible. "There will be war. So much poison has spread
that it is difficult to contain it now", he said. What steps has Governmen=
t
taken or proposes to take in the context of the disclosures made by Prof.
K.K. Shastri?

Some of our neighbouring countries where religious fundamentalism flourishe=
d
for more than a decade often with State patronage are now striving to
abandon this noxious path. It would be ironical and most unfortunate if
quite the opposite happens in India. I urge you to deal resolutely with al=
l
forms of religious extremism in an evenhanded rather than in a selective
manner, so that peace, harmony and the Rule of Law prevail throughout the
length and breath of the Nation.

With personal regards.

Yours sincerely,

(EDUARDO FALEIRO)

Shri L.K. Advani,
Hon'ble Home Minister,
Government of India,
New Delhi.

_______

#6.

The News International, 17 March 2002

The erosion of Indian secularism
Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2002-daily/17-03-2002/oped/o3.htm

_____

#7.

New York Times
March 16, 2002

In Religious Tinderbox, India Snuffs Spark
By SOMINI SENGUPTA

PHOTO: Amit Bhargava for The New York Times
CAPTION: Hindu nationalists, faces stained with dye, marched on=20
Friday through Ayodhya, in northern India.

AYODHYA, India, March 15 - Today was the day on which the country had=20
braced for the worst under Hindu hard-liners' threats to conduct a=20
prayer session on land where they had already torn down a=20
16th-century mosque. [...].

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/16/international/asia/16INDI.html

______

#8.

The Telegraph, 17 March 2002

HALF-TRUTHS AND MISDIRECTION
BY MUKUL KESAVAN

It's hard to know what there's left to say about the dangerous farce=20
played out in Ayodhya by that well known repertory company, the sangh=20
parivar, but the impression that stays with me after the events of=20
the last fortnight is the inexhaustible capacity for misdirection,=20
half-truths, plain lies and calculated contradiction displayed by the=20
main characters.

Almost everyone who had a speaking part managed to talk out of both=20
corners of his mouth at once and say different things. This began=20
with the sankar- acharya's cameo where he played the honest broker.=20
He had been cast by the prime minister and he must have turned in a=20
decent performance because pundits in the media were impressed. Parsa=20
Venkateswara Rao reproached critics of the sankaracharya for their=20
knee-jerk rejection of a man of god. An editorial in a leading daily=20
reproached the All India Muslim Personal Law Board for turning down=20
the "deal" that the sankaracharya offered them. The deal consisted of=20
allowing the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and its rabid sants to perform=20
bhoomi puja on the "undisputed" acres acquired by the government=20
after the razing of the mosque in 1992.

This was the first half-truth, and the newspapers bought it. It was=20
only much later that the more sensible ones began to qualify that=20
undisputed with quotation marks. I'd bet a large sum of money that=20
nearly all the journalists reporting on Ayodhya or writing leaders on=20
it, didn't know to start with that these "undisputed" acres had been=20
gifted to the Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas by Kalyan Singh, shortly before the=20
Babri Masjid was illegally razed. The gift was made on the plea that=20
the government didn't have the money to develop that area as it had=20
planned (there was an ambitious scheme to construct a Ram Katha Park)=20
and that the trust had promised to use its own money to execute the=20
plan. A set of conditions was attached to this perpetual lease to=20
make it seem respectable. These conditions did not visualize the use=20
of the land to construct a giant Ram mandir. So the VHP's plan to=20
start building the Ram mandir on the "undisputed" land was a) a=20
violation of the purposes for which the land had been given, and b)=20
an attempt to pre-empt the title dispute pending before the Lucknow=20
bench of the Allahabad high court, by building a temple structure=20
that eventually planned to situate the garbh griha on the masjid's=20
site.

Since the land had been acquired to protect the status quo and to=20
give the government the leeway necessary to re-allocate the land in=20
case the Muslims won the case and needed access to the masjid site,=20
how could the land be deemed "undisputed" for the purposes of a=20
bhoomi puja or a shila puja, because both were ritual preliminaries=20
to the building of the mandir?

To return to the "deal". In return for the puja and the land, the=20
sankaracharya reported that the VHP had agreed to abide by the=20
verdict of the courts. Many people pointed out the absurdness of=20
rewarding people for agreeing not to defy the law of the land, but=20
the VHP found even this "concession" difficult to sustain. Ashok=20
Singhal and Ramchandra Paramhans between them managed to contradict=20
each other and themselves half-a-dozen times inside three days. Now=20
they were law-abiding, now they were not. The daily didn't, in its=20
editorial, explain how any interlocutor of the VHP could deal with=20
people who signed agreements in disappearing ink.

Nor was it clear how the sankara-charya qualified as an honest broker=20
when his proximity to the VHP was well known. The sankaracharya=20
sought to further the VHP's attempt to change the status quo on the=20
acquired land. He announced the "deal" in Chennai before the AIMPLB=20
received the undertakings he had promised them, and when the Supreme=20
Court announced its interim order, he made it clear that he was=20
disappointed. I have no difficulty in conceding the sankaracharya's=20
right to his point of view, but why Muslims or indeed anyone else=20
should see him as a middleman when in fact he was effectively acting=20
to further the temple agenda, is less than clear.

Then we had Narendra Modi denying that he had used Newton's law in=20
macabre justification of the pogrom of Muslims in Gujarat that=20
followed the murder of Hindus in Godhra. He then kept telling every=20
news channel he could find that his government had set a record by=20
bringing the Gujarat carnage under control inside seventy two hours=20
and that, contrary to all the footage shown, he had acted promptly=20
and impartially. Modi works on the Goebbelsian assumption that lies=20
repeated endlessly become facts, and he may be right.

The prime minister entered the "he has been misquoted" game when he=20
stated authoritatively that Vinay Katiyar had not claimed that the=20
Hazratbal mosque had originally been a Hindu shrine that hosted a=20
Hindu relic: a hair of Nimath Baba's beard. This claim had set off=20
riots in Srinagar; instead of throwing Katiyar into jail for stoking=20
religious rage at a time like this, the prime minister tried to=20
airbrush the claim out of existence. When he was told that Katiyar=20
had made the claim on television, that it was on public record,=20
Vajpayee advised people not to believe everything they saw on=20
televison!

But the credit for the most wicked smear belonged to Jaya Jaitly.=20
After touring Gujarat, she wrote a piece in another daily that first=20
endorsed Modi's justification of the pogrom of Muslims: had secular=20
people condemned Godhra, not so many Muslims would have died in=20
Gujarat. But what followed was even viler. She said that Muslims in=20
Gujarat had become prosperous and assertive. Had this prosperity been=20
internally generated, there would have been no reason for Muslims to=20
resent the Bharatiya Janata Party government. But Muslims were=20
against the BJP government because their prosperity was covertly=20
achieved, from sources beyond the country's borders.

Jaitly was saying that Muslims had made money in shady ways and were=20
getting above themselves. The peaceful Gujarat of old, where Muslims=20
knew their place, had gone. This sinister Muslim prosperity had upset=20
the old social equilibrium. So the violence was their fault; they had=20
it coming. Jaitly tries to anticipate criticism by predicting that=20
she'll be accused of "turning saffron". That's unlikely: there are=20
more precise descriptions of her present position. The Nazis=20
routinely accused Jews of making money through their links to an=20
international Jewish cabal. These alleged connections were also used=20
to suggest that the community had extra-territorial loyalties. Jaitly=20
here is talking the language of Thackeray and Togadia: even Advani=20
doesn't go public with such theories.

The curtain on this review of government-speak should be rung down by=20
Soli Sorabjee, who, for reasons that I hope are obscure even to him,=20
echoed the government's puja position before the Supreme Court and=20
then declared that his statement to the court was his professional=20
opinion on a matter of law. Nothing in it was owed, he maintained, to=20
government briefing, not even the detailed logistical arrangements=20
for the proposed puja, down to the number of participating mahants,=20
the distance (in metres) of kar sevak spectators and the details of=20
the security bandobast. This from a man who, in 1994, publicly=20
criticized the Supreme Court judgment on the Ayodhya Act for being=20
unfair to Muslims. Soli Sorabjee is a cultivated man; he will=20
recognize these lines by Marlowe : "Yet, for he was a scholar once=20
admired/ For wondrous knowledge in our German schools."

______

#9.
The Times of India, SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2002

Will the govt rebuild razed, burnt shrines?
ROBIN DAVID
TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2002 1:53:43 AM ]
AHMEDABAD: While there is no official word on rebuilding religious=20
sites damaged or razed in the recent riots in Gujarat, the National=20
Commission for Minorities is giving the impression that the state=20
government will reconstruct the mosques and dargahs.
They have apparently received an assurance from the horse's mouth=20
Chief Minister Narendra Modi himself.
The Commission, including Justice Mohammad Shamim and four others,=20
had met Modi during their recent visit to the state and brought up=20
the issue of the damaged sites.
Sources said it was in this meeting that Modi had agreed to the=20
rebuilding plan. He had, however, refused to set a deadline and start=20
repair work. Senior officials, on the other hand, refuse to comment=20
on the issue claiming they have no knowledge of any such plan.
If the state government does wish to rebuild, it can always approach=20
the Gujarat Chand Committee which has a list of 69 damaged sites,=20
including mosques, dargahs and madrassas.
And it has a major task on hand if it wants to keep its word to the=20
Commission. Ahmedabad has taken the first rank in this list with as=20
many as 45 such sites. Vadodara comes in second with eight while=20
Kheda and Sabarkantha making up for most of the rest.
Of these, about 15 have been razed to the ground or badly damaged by=20
fires. About 10 have been converted into temples, according to the=20
Chand committee list.
Damage to at least one mosque, the Muhafiz Khan Masjid in Ahmedabad,=20
has raised the heckles of many. This 250-year-old mosque was under=20
the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and=20
considered to be one of the three most beautiful mosques of Ahmedabad=20
along with the Sidi Syed Mosque and the Rani Sipri Mosque.
"There is no way you can evaluate the damage to the mosque," says=20
Afzal Khan of the Sunni Muslim Wakf Board, under whose jurisdiction=20
the Muhafiz Khan Masjid fell. "Miscreants have damaged the intricate=20
carvings on the southern side. Although the mosque is still standing,=20
there is no way that the damaged part can be replaced."
There were many other small shrines, which were not even registered=20
with the government, of the religious body. Rebuilding will be a=20
mammoth task, many feel. "A good example is that of poet Vali dargah=20
which was razed by rioters," says Debashis Niak of the Ahmedabad=20
Municipal Corporation's heritage cell. "There are many more like=20
these of which we have lost trace.
Khan adds that when the Board's office in the compound of the=20
Sachivalaya was burnt down in the first few days of the rioting, they=20
lost all the documents of the 6,000 trusts and other bodies that they=20
managed and monitored.
"The miscreants damaged the computer and all documents in the office.=20
We have absolutely no paper work left." The Board was also in the=20
process of registering another 6,000 trusts. Now the entire exercise=20
will have to be started from scratch.
Will the state government keep its word given to the National=20
Commission for Minorities? For the time being, no one knows.

_______

#10.

The Times of India
Religion doubles up as pin-up, talisman
AMIT MUKHERJEE
TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2002 1:37:00 AM ]
AHMEDABAD/VADODARA: Riot-hit denizens of Gujarat are resorting to=20
whatever means possible to save their homes and commercial=20
establishments.
http://203.199.93.7/articleshow.asp?art_id=3D4006619

______

#11.

Far Eastern Economic Review , March 21, 2002

THE 5TH COLUMN
The Local Roots of India's Riots
By Ashutosh Varshney
http://www.feer.com/articles/2002/0203_21/p026fcol.html

______

#12.

Source: http://www.cpiml.org/pgs/ml_upd/vol5/5_11.htm
Of 'Token Punishment' and 'Symbolic Karsewa'

Will the VHP abide by the verdict of the court on Ayodhya? Singhal has one
answer, Giriraj Kishore has another. Meanwhile, you have Togadia adding new
twists everyday even as Dalmia delivers his own verdict. If you are hungry =
for
more, you may follow the ash-smeared lips of Jayendra Saraswathi as he mutt=
ers
something inaudible and inscrutable. Finally we are told a 'solution' has b=
een
found and VHP has given an undertaking to abide by the court's verdict. The
government immediately rewards the VHP by easing all restrictions on the
movement of the VHP band to Ayodhya. And with the court 'permitting', the s=
tage
is all set for a 'symbolic' shila pujan on March 15.

The VHP and its saffron cohorts in other outfits of the Sangh Parivar have =
time
and again said that Ayodhya is a question of 'faith' and faith has its own
'sovereign domain' not subject to any form of judicial intervention. They h=
ave
repeatedly violated instructions of various courts and gone back on words t=
hat
they and their governments had supposedly given to the courts. The Supreme
Court has never considered such routine oft-repeated statements to constitu=
te
what it calls contempt of the court. And if the VHP issues a tactical state=
ment
expressing a most vague and conditional acceptance of the court's verdict, =
of
course in anticipation of a favourable one, it only adds to the VHP's claim=
s to
legitimacy!

The same Supreme Court, which turns a Nelson's eye to the utterances and ac=
ts
of the VHP, becomes hyper-sensitive and hyper-active in dealing with Arundh=
ati
Roy. The eminent author is sentenced to a day's imprisonment and a fine of =
Rs.
2,000 for daring to criticise the Court's verdict on Narmada and for not
showing any 'remorse' or 'repentance'. Lest one is led to the conclusion th=
at
the Supreme Court has such a low evaluation of its own honour, the learned
judges of the Court also added a patronising slant. The Court has ordered o=
nly
a token punishment, the judgement went on to say, considering that the 'gui=
lty'
was a woman. This patriarchal and patronising pill came on March 6 leaving
these patron saints of women's empowerment free to describe Arundhati's rel=
ease
the next day to be a great Indian tribute to the International Women's Day!

Token punishment to Arundhati Roy. Symbolic 'shila pujan' at Ayodhya. Whate=
ver
has happened in Gujarat after Godhra is also described by some as a symboli=
c
and 'restrained' manifestation of 'Hindu' anger. Meanwhile, Advani has
unleashed another symbol in Parliament. The draft version of POTA has been
tabled in Lok Sabha. There are indeed symbols galore. The question is: what
meaning of Indian democracy do we derive and decode from these sundry signp=
osts
and symbolisms? What kind of a democracy is it, which has to depend for its
daily diet on the small mercies of the Supreme Court and the 'rationality' =
and
even 'magnanimity' of the marauding vandals of the VHP?

To be sure, there is no dearth of alternative symbols in this land. The
symbolic verdict of the February elections came seething with popular anger=
. We
continue to see living human symbols of hope and harmony even in the midst =
of
all-round communal venom and violence in Gujarat. We continue to hear aroun=
d us
courageous voices of reason and resolve that cannot be drowned in any commu=
nal
noise. We can feel people getting increasingly fed up with the sordid polit=
ics
of temple. The need of the hour is to build on these alternative symbols an=
d
changing moods and defeat the sinister symbolism of the Sangh Parivar. This=
is
the time to push forward and chase away the saffron intruders from every no=
ok
and corner. Oust Saffron, Save the Nation. Fight for Democracy, Fight for
India.

______

#13.

Letter to the Editor
Frontline - Mar. 16 - 29, 2002

Another demolition

I am a French national living in Muhammad Pur, a small (predominantly=20
Hindu) village in South Delhi. A number of Islamic monuments from the=20
pre-Mughal era, mostly tombs, are found in and around this village.=20
Recently, a (disused) mosque dating back to the Lodi dynasty was=20
pulled down, probably for private construction purposes. Even as I=20
write this letter, the rubble is being carried away. Soon all traces=20
of that historical building will have been obliterated. Similar=20
monuments in this locality have long been used as stables or urinals.

The destruction of a 500-year-old mosque in the capital raises many=20
questions. (To put it provocatively, could it have happened had the=20
structure been a temple? What is the Archaeological Survey of India=20
doing?) But my point is that how surprising is it really that a=20
Minister should indulge in rewriting history and deleting passages=20
from textbooks when some people in the country seem keen on=20
desecrating, defacing, damaging and eventually destroying parts of=20
their national heritage?

Francois-Xavier Durandy
New Delhi

--=20
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