[sacw] SACW #1 | 17 May 02

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire Dispatch #1 | 17 May 2002
http://www.mnet.fr

For Information & news on the Gujarat Carnage visit:
http://www.onlinevolunteers.org/gujarat/
o o o
Condemning Violence Against Women in the Gujarat Massacres
in India Petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/gujwomen
__________________________

1. India: Urgent Appeal For Volunteers To Help The Survivors of The=20
Gujarat Carnage
2. India: From Pokhran to Gujarat (Praful Bidwai)
3. India: A relentless hate campaign (Dionne Bunsha)
4. India: Camp Gujarat: Crying Need for Healing Touch (Anjolie Ela Menon)
5. India: Gujarat Carnage and the Health Services: A Public Health Disaster
Report of an investigation by Medico Friend Circle
6. India: Communal violence in Gujarat (Issues in Medical Ethics, Editoria=
l)
7. India: Letter from Saheli to Chairperson, National Commission for Women
8. India: Where women bore the brunt (Raka Ray)
9. The Indian business elite and the illogic of collective silence(=20
Ashok Deo Bardhan)

__________________________

#1.

AN URGENT APPEAL FOR VOLUNTEERS
TO HELP THE SURVIVORS OF THE GUJARAT CARNAGE

The targeted orgy of violence against the people of Gujarat,=20
especially the minorities, has left in its wake despondency and=20
desperation. It has already claimed the lives of more than 2000=20
Indian citizens, and turned over 100,000 into refugees in their own=20
land. Even as we issue this appeal =F1 the violence continues. Islands=20
of terrorized survivors huddle together across the state in over 100=20
miserable relief camps, in both urban and rural areas. Betrayed by=20
neighbours and friends, left for dead by the state, they are a truly=20
broken people. Children killed, maimed and orphaned; women stripped,=20
raped, and burnt; families with their life savings destroyed =F1 ashes=20
scattered to the wind. They need your help. Give just a little of=20
your time to help heal the wounds that are bleeding our nation.

Volunteers are urgently needed from different backgrounds to perform=20
a variety of immediate tasks.

- Post-trauma Counseling: Counselors and professionals with a=20
background of working with post-trauma cases are urgently needed in=20
all the relief camps.

- Documentation/recording: Volunteers with documentation skills=20
are needed to record testimonies of victims, ascertain details of=20
incidents, verify facts. Those who can commit up to 10-15 days of=20
their time can help in documentation without necessarily having to go=20
to Gujarat. Information can be sent to them via email to prepare=20
issue-based reports, advocacy material etc.

- Working with children: The relief camps are flooded with=20
children, some traumatized because of what they have heard and seen,=20
others orphaned =F1 they all need people to sit with them, play with=20
them, tell stories, engage them, re-build trust, attempt to re-create=20
a lost childhood. Volunteers should have some experience in working=20
with children.

- Craft: Volunteers with skills in sewing, embroidery, paper=20
cutting and other crafts are required to work with women survivors in=20
the relief camps.

- Legal Aid: Volunteers are needed to support the legal action.=20
This includes collection of detailed information from camps on cases=20
of loss of life, property, injury, sexual violence, missing persons=20
etc. A background in law will be helpful for legal aid volunteers but=20
is not strictly necessary.

In addition to having any of the skills described above, all=20
volunteers should meet the following basic requirements:

1. Language - Volunteers with Hindi and English language=20
proficiency are welcome. Ability to communicate in Gujarati is=20
helpful but not necessary.
2. Volunteers should have a degree of sensitivity, maturity and=20
ability to handle difficult situations. Some NGO or development=20
experience in working with people in troubled situations will be=20
helpful but is not necessary.
3. Volunteers should be willing to commit a minimum of 7-10 days=20
of their time.
4. It is easier for those working round the clock in relief=20
camps that volunteer help arrives in batches of at least 4 or 5=20
people. This avoids duplication of the basic orientation process. So,=20
if you know of others who wish to volunteer their time, please try=20
and coordinate dates with them.

IF YOU WANT TO VOLUNTEER, WHOM TO CONTACT?

Legal aid volunteers should contact the following:
- Coordinators of Legal Cells in Ahmedabad
* Sophia Khan. Telephones - 079 - 5622963 and (o) 079 - 7496054.
Email: <mailto:sophiakhan@r...>sophiakhan@r...
* Sheba George. Telephones 079 - 6752239, (o) 079 - 6858195,=20
mobile 9824093673
Email: <mailto:sahrwaruad1@s...>sahrwaruad1@s...

- Coordinator of Legal Cell in Mumbai
* Flavia Agnes. Telephones 022- 6160252 or 6180394 and mobile=20
9820192196
Email: <mailto:majlis@v...>majlis@v...

All other volunteers should contact the following:
* Bhavna Ramrakhiani. Telephones: 079-7910654 and mobile 982403465=
0
Email: <mailto:nagrikpahel@h...>nagrikpahel@h...

* Sejal Dand and Neeta Hardikar (for volunteers wishing to=20
work in Dahod or Panchmahals Districts). Telephones: 079 - 6325316,=20
(o) 079 - 6859794, 02678-20226 and mobile 9824167565
Email: <mailto:anandi@j...>anandi@j...

Volunteers from Delhi who wish to meet those involved in the relief=20
efforts should contact the following organisation:
* JAGORI: Telephones: 011-6257015 and 6253629.
Email: <mailto:jagori@d...>jagori@d...

Note: Support will be provided towards travel, boarding and lodging=20
costs of volunteers

A JOINT APPEAL ISSUED BY
CITIZENS INITIATIVE (Ahmedabad), AMAN EKTA MANCH (Delhi) and SHANTI=20
ABHIYAN (Vadodara)

May 1ST, 2002

_____

#2.

The Hindustan Times
Friday, May 17, 2002=20=20

>From Pokhran to Gujarat

by Praful Bidwai

One of the most perceptive comments on the Pokhran-II nuclear tests,=20
which occurred this week four years ago, was made by a peace=20
activist. He said: "They killed Mahatma Gandhi twice - first in 1948,=20
and again in 1998." 'They' here clearly referred to the forces of=20
Hindutva, which fiercely oppose the Gandhian notions of tolerance,=20
secularism, pluralism and nonviolence.

Fifty-four years ago, these forces were personified by former RSS=20
swayamsewak Nathuram Godse, who regarded Gandhi as effete and=20
effeminate and an appeaser of Muslims and Pakistan. Today, they are=20
represented by former pracharak Narendra Modi, and other Hindu=20
fundamentalists belonging to the BJP, who too regard Gujarat's=20
Muslims as Pakistan's Fifth Column, who deserve to be killed.

Is the Pokhran-Gujarat connection far-fetched? Actually, the links go=20
beyond the 1948-1998 analogy. Thus, the VHP's first response to=20
Pokhran-II was to declare that the Hindus had finally "awakened" with=20
the "Shakti" series of tests, and to demand that India be formally,=20
constitutionally, declared a "Hindu State".

Identically, VHP leader Ashok Singhal now terms Gujarat's pogrom of=20
Muslims as signifying, indeed proof of, Hindu "awakening" or=20
"resurgence".

Four years ago, the VHP announced it would build a temple to a new=20
national goddess, "Atomic Shakti", and carry Pokhran's radioactive=20
sands in a rath yatra to each corner of India. Today, it is reaping=20
the harvest of the seeds sown by its campaign to build another=20
illegitimate temple, at Ayodhya, fertilised by kar sewaks who went=20
there from Gujarat in their thousands.

Beyond such analogies lie deeper, causal connections. Gujarat was a=20
"Hindutva-only" affair. (That is why the BJP remains totally isolated=20
on its support for the pogrom). Pokhran-II too was a parochial,=20
'BJP-RSS-only', thing, not a national enterprise.

The decision to conduct the blasts was not taken in the cabinet,=20
following a 'strategic review' or consultations with the defence=20
services. As RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan boasted, it was taken by the=20
Sangh. Only a handful of RSS-loyal ministers were privy to it.=20
Indeed, most of our hawkish 'strategic experts' did not advocate=20
actual testing. Never known for much independence, they however duly=20
fell in line on May 11 and spun out fanciful ex-post=20
rationalisations. Four years on, these appear hollow and fraudulent.

After the 1998 elections, and even before Pokhran-II, the BJP=20
jealously, doggedly, stuck to its manifesto's promise to "reevaluate=20
the country's nuclear policy and exercise the option to induct=20
nuclear weapons", and imposed it on the NDA's 'National Agenda for=20
Governance', which repeated it verbatim. Such repetition occurred on=20
only one other issue: constitutional review.

It is easy to see that Hindutva's obsession with nuclear weapons=20
derives from a certain conception of power and prestige, and of=20
nationalism. This notion of power is quite unrelated to security,=20
even conventional military security.

The BJP-Jan Sangh's half-century-old demand that India should go=20
nuclear was made irrespective of the state of India's security=20
environment at any point. It is driven by a neurotic fascination with=20
nuclearism, the worship of the ability to wreak limitless vengeance=20
and bludgeon the adversary into submission - by threatening mass=20
destruction. Power here is equated with the ability to cause mortal=20
fear, not evoke respect.

This conception is morally perverse. It makes nonsense of the ethics=20
of just war, including non-combatant immunity, proportionality in the=20
use of force, and avoidance of cruel, degrading and inhuman methods.

One can embrace nuclearism with BJP-style enthusiasm only by erasing=20
all distinctions between soldiers and civilians, measured (or=20
well-targeted) and indiscriminate force, and just and barbaric=20
methods of warfare. How else can one justify incinerating millions of=20
people, flattening whole cities at one go, or extensively poisoning=20
land, air and water with long-acting toxins (some with half-lives of=20
millions of years), or inflicting chromosomal damage upon scores of=20
as-yet-unborn generations?

It is also relevant to ask how one can justify, as Hindutva does, the=20
slitting of wombs to destroy foetuses, spearing little babies to=20
death, burning alive old people, and savaging and quartering women's=20
bodies. That is precisely what happened in the Gujarat massacre,=20
which the BJP and its associates organised and executed with full=20
State complicity.

When you 'normalise' Genghis Khan-level barbarism as the "natural"=20
logic of action-and-reaction, when you plot the butchery of innocent=20
citizens because 'they', some members of that false collectivity, did=20
a Godhra to 'us', when you malign Muslims as people incapable of=20
living with others, when you demonise and dehumanise a whole=20
community, you follow the same logic as nuclearism does.

Common to both is the legitimation of genocidal destruction, of a=20
break in the chain of being, of unlimited punishment disproportionate=20
to the threat/crime. Rationalising a pogrom or worshipping nuclear=20
weapons means banalising evil. Both celebrate revenge and savagery=20
bordering on genocide.

The BJP's conception of nationhood involves a warped notion of=20
grandeur based on the congruence of pitrabhoomi and punyabhoomi, and=20
privileging of one ethnic-religious group. Central to it is=20
exclusion, coercion and violence, as well as false glorification of=20
India's past. Hindu nationalism is just as incompatible with the=20
Constitution and universal rights as Islamic or Zionist=20
fundamentalism.

The bomb serves this idea of nationhood ideally. Nuclearism denies=20
the possibility of drawing upon humane values and life-affirming or=20
cooperative attitudes. This mindset promotes what are conventionally=20
known as 'masculine' values: lack of compassion, eagerness to=20
retaliate, violence, and brutality. No wonder, Hindutva has a=20
compulsive and obsessive fascination with 'manhood' and 'virility'.=20
This has nowhere been more evident than in Gujarat.

Central to this muscular, male-supremacist, virulent nationalism is=20
the idea of 'sacrifice' and 'martyrdom' - in the cause of mass=20
destruction. The first South Asian leader who said, "we'll eat grass,=20
but we'll have the bomb", was not Bhutto. It was Atal Bihari=20
Vajpayee, way back in the Sixties - with a variation: eating one=20
chapati in place of two, rather than grass.

Needless to say, the leaders who pledge such sacrifices on behalf of=20
the people never end up eating grass themselves. They merely prepare=20
the ground for profoundly irrational, hysterical ways of=20
conceptualising security - by severing the people from the nation.

The causal chain that links Pokhran to Gujarat is unmistakable. The=20
first mindset evolves seamlessly into the second. If Gujarat has=20
inflicted unconscionable damage upon India's constitutional order and=20
its claim to pluralism, nuclear weapons have grotesquely perverted=20
our social and economic priorities, promoted crude Social-Darwinist=20
ideas of "survival of the fittest", legitimised unbounded cruelty -=20
and degraded India's security.

Nothing illustrates this better than today's India-Pakistan military=20
standoff, born of reckless brinkmanship, aggravated by a cynical=20
'Wag-the-Dog' calculus, and further compounded by the condemnable=20
Jammu massacre. There is now a likelihood of "limited" strikes=20
rapidly escalating into a nuclear standoff.

More than a billion innocent, unarmed civilians in South Asia have=20
now become hostage to mass-destruction weapons against which there=20
is, can be, no defence. Four years after Pokhran-II - and the Chagai=20
tests it provoked - the nuclear balance sheet looks ugly.=20
Nuclearisation has had a disastrous social, economic, political and=20
foreign policy impact. This will worsen as India bankrupts itself,=20
our social services collapse, and the State fails, while the people=20
become insecure, as in Gujarat.

We could not have made a worse Faustian bargain.

_____

#3.

Frontline
Volume 19 - Issue 10, May 11-24, 2002

A relentless hate campaign
Violence continues in Gujarat even two months after it started and=20
the Sangh Parivar campaign to spread communal hatred gains strength=20
by the day, seemingly aided by governmental apathy and worse.

DIONNE BUNSHA
in Ahmedabad
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1910/19100040.htm

_____

#4.

http://203.199.93.7/articleshow.asp?art_id=3D10005402
The Times of India
LEADER ARTICLE

Camp Gujarat: Crying Need for Healing Touch
ANJOLIE ELA MENON

Yes, like so many of us, I too postponed the moment of reckoning for=20
two whole months. But until we touch them in the flesh, see them with=20
our own eyes, hold their hands in our hands, hear their cries of=20
despair, they remain a statistic in the morning paper, pawns in the=20
games of politicians. They are far removed from us, creating no=20
disturbance in our daily lives.
In the relief camp in Ahmedabad I am aghast at the numbers. I am=20
deeply humbled that someone rushes to offer me cold water. How can I=20
accept this when right at the entrance of the makeshift office, a=20
10-day-old baby lies on the bare floor beside its mother while the=20
grandmother fans the flies off them in a gesture that speaks of both=20
love and despair.
Despair is the flavour of the morning, it wafts across the compound=20
perceptibly. Outside, hundreds of women sit on gunny sacks under a=20
thin cotton canopy. It is 45 degrees and blisteringly hot. Not a fan=20
in sight. The children run about with great abandon, mercifully=20
gifted with amnesia. I think of our own pampered brood at home who=20
have to be coaxed to eat.
The women think that I am some kind of neta to whom they can address=20
their complaints. No, I try to tell them, I am only a kalakar. I put=20
my arms around one woman who is weeping and 20 others just want a=20
hug, to be comforted even if I can't offer them hope, justice, money,=20
freedom. Only apologies for what all of us have allowed to happen.=20
One by one the tales of horror and brutality unfold as each one tells=20
her story. Every story is beyond the pale, unbelievable. But each=20
re-telling is a catharsis, the only therapy available for trauma.=20
What a miracle that they sit here weeping silently. One would have=20
expected screams of anguish, the madness of terrible grief for each=20
one of them has lost someone beloved.
Realising the futility of my own tears, I move to the 'office' to=20
talk to the very competent older inmates who are running it. The camp=20
seems to be self-run with no sign whatsoever of any government=20
representative. Apparently in this particular camp the 'beast of=20
Belsen' is a police inspector, who lost a relative in a riot many=20
years ago and is now the archetypal sadist cop. A few days ago, six=20
young boys from the camps were rounded up in the middle of the night=20
and carted off by the cops. Then there was a sudden, unprovoked=20
tear-gas attack. An old woman died of fright and the children howled=20
with pain in their eyes for nearly two days. The empty teargas shells=20
were shown to us like trophies.
The good intentions of the managers notwithstanding, it is sheer=20
bedlam in the camps. The women sit around the whole day under the=20
shamianas, or out in the open in some camps, the kids run wild and=20
the men hang around in sullen groups. Used to organising things in=20
the navy, I immediately had a wish list. Better cleanliness, play=20
groups for the kids, getting the women to help with the cooking,=20
cleaning, serving etc. Perhaps some organised activity would help=20
raise the morale of those who have already spent 60 days here with=20
apathy turning to despair.
I am shocked that no norms have been laid down as to the minimum=20
legal requirements of a refugee camp. (UNCHR, where are you?)=20
Seventeen rupees per head. That's it. What about the norms laid down=20
for space per head, medical attention, a roof overhead, insect=20
repellents, cleaning materials, sterile drinking water? How many loos=20
for how many people? What about bedding, sanitation, a place for=20
people's belongings? Are they supposed to exist perpetually in=20
temperature of between 40 and 45 degrees, sitting on gunny sacks? For=20
example, how many full-time doctors are prescribed for a camp of=20
6,500 people? Every tenet of decent administration is being=20
shamelessly flouted by the government.
If the government was capable of organising the Kumbh, surely it can=20
do what is humane and correct here, even if belatedly? Where is our=20
pride? If Mr Modi can't manage, he should hand over the camps to the=20
army or an NGO, to be run like relief camps, not concentration camps.

Yet, despite the nightmarish conditions in the camps, the prospect of=20
their closure is even more terrible. These are people who have lost=20
everything - homes, breadwinners, jobs, possessions. If they don't=20
get attacked by a hostile neighbour they will perish from sheer want.=20
The question each one asks is, 'where will we go from here?' If there=20
is even an iota of good intention on the part of the government, then=20
efforts should be already on to document the situation statistically,=20
and put in place a comprehensive rehabilitation plan. But that is=20
doubtful. Let's declare the Gujarat situation a 'national calamity'.=20
Maybe this will bring help and justice to the victims to match the=20
great public outpourings of sympathy for the earthquake or Kargil.
I appeal to the government in the name of humanity to rise above both=20
politics and religion at this grave and shameful moment in our=20
history and bring some real solace to the victims of Godhra and its=20
horrendous aftermath.

_____

#5.

Gujarat Carnage and the Health Services: A Public Health Disaster
Report of an investigation by Medico Friend Circle
May 2002
http://www.onlinevolunteers.org/gujarat/reports/mfc-report.htm

_____

#6.

http://www.medicalethicsindia.org/

Issues in Medical Ethics (Bombay), April 2002 | Editorial

Communal violence in Gujarat

Does the murder of more than 700 people in Gujarat (as we go to=20
press, the killings have entered their fourth week, with every sign=20
of continuing) merit an editorial comment in a journal on medical=20
ethics?

It could be argued that the communal killings are a crime against=20
humanity and not specifically within the purview of medical ethics.=20
However, doctors have special responsibilities =96 both as educated=20
professionals, and because of the services they provide. And it is=20
here that they appear to have failed.

The medical profession has an important role to play in providing=20
treatment and emotional support to victims of communal violence.

Some reports in the media, on the medical profession's response, have=20
been encouraging: some have worked round the clock to provide=20
life-saving treatment to victims of the violence. They provided=20
treatment irrespective of religious affiliations, and despite the=20
very real threat of violence if they treated minority patients.=20
Indeed, our friends in Gujarat report that doctors in Ahmedabad "who=20
have tried to do some relief work have been thwarted by the majority=20
community goons."

The government has not provided essential health services to the=20
thousands of displaced men, women and children living in camps, in=20
crowded, unsanitary conditions which can trigger off epidemics.=20
There are many burns victims who urgently need medical supplies and=20
treatment. Survivors of this carnage have lost everything they own,=20
have experienced the most horrendous physical and psychological=20
traumas, and are afraid to approach public health services for fear=20
of further persecution.

The fact that the medical associations did not galvanise themselves=20
for relief work indicates how deeply the medical profession has been=20
affected by the sharp communal divides being promoted by political=20
interests.

A generalised phenomenon

Indeed, the medical community is becoming polarised, both in Gujarat=20
and elsewhere in the country. We hear doctors confide that the=20
minorities "needed to be taught a lesson". Some boast of how their=20
friends participated in the violence.

We also hear that VHP secretary Praveen Togadia was once a 'renowned'=20
cancer surgeon. "It is his legacy that is bearing fruit in the state=20
today," according to an analysis in the press.

Both types of reports echo earlier reports of the profession's=20
behaviour in the communal violence which has become all too common=20
in recent years. In 1993, public hospital staff in Mumbai worked day=20
and night despite the threat of violence, as the frenzy of killing=20
lay just outside the campus gates, sometimes entering them. Some=20
remember that the "hospital staff stayed scrupulously impartial in=20
treating those sent to them, irrespective of creed." However, there=20
were also reports of doctors denying medical care to minority=20
patients, and of hospital staff harassing minorities and preventing=20
them from getting treatment.

A growing threat

It has also been noted that the class, caste (and religious)=20
backgrounds of the vast majority of health professionals "provide a=20
fertile ground for social forces using castism and communalism" for=20
political purposes. Indeed, some health researchers have had=20
personal experience of the castist and communal views of some people=20
in the profession. There is a feeling that health professionals are=20
increasingly supporting communal views. This may not have been=20
translated to obvious discrimination in medical practice. However, as=20
political parties promote communal divisions, and the threads=20
holding our society together are torn apart, doctors will soon=20
actively participate in communal violence. And there have been=20
reports that the rioters and looters in Gujarat included doctors and=20
'educated professionals'.

Doctors and social responsibility

The role of health professionals in caste and communal violence has=20
not been studied extensively. This itself is a subject for concern.=20
The medical profession's response =96 or lack of it =96 to communal=20
violence needs to be documented and analysed.

The medical profession should be concerned when one of its fraternity=20
is involved in the carnage in Gujarat. Shouldn't medical=20
associations withdraw the license of Dr Togadia =97 and all others in=20
the medical profession who have spoken and acted as he has?

Finally, as a result of their work, doctors have access to important=20
findings on the results of communal violence. However, there has=20
been a reluctance to publish such findings in the belief that it=20
would incite more violence. So, though communal violence is a=20
tragically regular feature of our society, there is little=20
documentation on its physical and psychological consequences. It is=20
absolutely imperative that health professionals record their=20
eye-witness accounts of communal violence and the health=20
profession's response, towards preventing further violence.

Editorial Board

Dr Arun Bal, Dr Amar Jesani, Dr S P Kalantri, Dr Santosh Karmarkar,=20
Ms Neha Madhiwalla, Dr Ratna Magotra, Dr Bashir Mamdani, Dr Sanjay=20
Nagral, Dr Samiran Nundy, Dr Sanjay A Pai, Dr Sunil K Pandya, Dr=20
Anil Pilgaokar, Dr Suhas Pingle, Dr Nobhojit Roy, Dr PK Sarkar, Ms=20
Sandhya Srinivasan, Dr George Thomas.

References

1.Nautiyal Shefali. This doctor refused to desert his post when hell=20
broke loose. Indian Express, March 15, 2002.
2.PTI: Gujarat doctors: breaking communal barriers March 9 2002.
3. Murlidhar V. Two major riots in Bombay. Issues in Medical Ethics=20=20
1993 1; 2: 7.
4. Srinivasan S, Varodara. personal communication.
5. Kaushal P. Band of brothers. Indian Express, March 17, 2002.
6. Davie Pamela. Red Cross assists divided communities in Gujarat Red=20
Cross website. March 6, 2002.
7. Jesani A. Violence and the health care profession in India.=20
Radical Journal of Health October 1998.

_____

#7.

To,
Dr Poornima Advani,
Chairperson, National Commission for Women,
4, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg,
New Delhi 110 002

6 May 2002

Sub: Report on Gujarat

Dear Dr Advani,

This is with reference to the "Report of the Committee Constituted by=20
the National Commission for Women to Assess the Status and Situation=20
of Women and Girl Children in Gujarat in the wake of the Communal=20
Disturbance." We would like to place on record our comments on the=20
Report.

In the first place, we would like to point out that the inordinate=20
delay in appointing the Committee only on 9th April, more than five=20
weeks after the carnage in Gujarat began on 27th February,=20
demonstrates a complete lack of response to these alarming events.

Moreover, the entire Report fails to take cognisance of the evidence=20
that the attack against the Muslim community in Gujarat was=20
orchestrated, systematic and pre-meditated. Such one-sided violence=20
cannot be called 'communal disturbances' or 'riots' as referred to in=20
the Report. We visited Gujarat from March 22-27 as part of a women's=20
team along with Forum Against Oppression of Women, Mumbai,=20
Awaaz-e-Niswan, Mumbai and Sahiyar, Baroda. Our findings, which form=20
a part of a chapter entitled 'Women's Perspectives' in the Report of=20
the People's Union for Civil Liberties (Baroda), have led us to the=20
inescapable conclusion that the attacks on the Muslim community=20
following the Godhra carnage, were pre-planned, methodical and had=20
support from the State Government and administration, and can most=20
appropriately be termed genocide.

Similarly, the Report nowhere identifies the perpetrators of the=20
violence. Our own findings, reports of other independent Fact-Finding=20
teams, as well as media reports, clearly indict the armed militia of=20
the VHP, Bajrang Dal and RSS. An avoidance of naming the guilty is=20
hardly likely to restore a sense of security in those who have been=20
subjected to the gravest forms of violence. The plea that the Report=20
makes its observations in a "very restrained manner" so as not to=20
"further inflame passions", is thus untenable in a situation when the=20
perpetrators of violence are still at large and moving around with=20
impunity while the attacked community cowers in camps, too insecure=20
to move out. Unless the guilty are identified and brought to book,=20
the affected persons cannot hope for justice.

The Report also absolves the State Government of any responsibility=20
for this genocide. We found evidence that not only is the State=20
Government guilty of 'allowing' the attacks to continue till date,=20
various arms of the State Government actively took part in the arson,=20
looting, murder and rape of Muslims. Members of the BJP government=20
have been named in FIRs, while other evidence, like transferring of=20
police officers who have managed to control the violence, points to=20
the control of an anti-minority government over the civil=20
administration.

Thus, when the Report recommends that "in cases of crimes against=20
women prompt action needs to be taken by all wings of the law=20
enforcement agencies," we fail to see how this can be done without=20
prosecuting the officers themselves for dereliction of duty, as well=20
as the politicians who participated in the carnage.

The dismissal by Ms Nafisa Hussain, member, NCW, of an independent=20
report by the Women's Panel as an 'exaggeration', and your silence on=20
the subject, sends unnerving signals to women of the minority=20
community who have been subjected to gang-rape, torture, extreme=20
sexual violence, mutilation and murder. NCW's statement not only=20
negates this factual reality but is also dangerous in so far as it=20
comes from an apex body entrusted with the welfare of women.

Your indifference to the plight of women who have suffered in an=20
unprecedented manner for over two months, your refusal to admit the=20
fact that minority women were the target of gruesome violence and=20
your unwillingness to condemn the Gujarat Government for its=20
complicity, have much in common with the indifference and inaction of=20
the State and Central Governments. Today, when relief camps are being=20
disbanded with no alternative arrangements, when inmates of relief=20
camps are being threatened by mobs demanding that their names be=20
withdrawn from FIRs, and there is no security to return to their=20
homes, what measures are being taken to ensure that the NCW=20
recommendations regarding law and order, relief and rehabilitation=20
are being implemented?

This takes us back to the year 2000 when you brought out a document=20
entitled "Rape - A Legal Study" in which you put forward an=20
extraordinary notion that the subjugation of women began as a result=20
of foreign invasions. The study revealed not only complete ignorance=20
of vast historical and feminist literature on the origin of=20
patriarchal society, but also operated in the framework of a communal=20
stereotype. Although our protest, along with other women's=20
organisations succeeded in withdrawal of the study, we find the same=20
communal stereotype and anti-Muslim prejudices at work in the present=20
Report on Gujarat.

Your stand on the Gujarat genocide, as reflected in the Report, has=20
failed to engender any faith in the National Commission for Women.=20
The autonomy of the NCW has been an issue of concern for women's=20
groups right from the inception of this apex body. When bodies like=20
the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for=20
Minorities have been unequivocal in raising issues of human rights,=20
women and minorities and indicting the Government for complicity and=20
inaction, what, we would like to ask, is ailing the NCW? The NCW=20
should not work as an agency of the ruling party but as a=20
representative of women from all communities all over the country.=20
This is the role that has clearly been abdicated by the present=20
National Commission for Women.

Sincerely Yours,

[Dr Sadhana Arya] [Laxmi Murthy]
[For Saheli]

Copy to all Members of the Committee:
Ms Nafisa Hussain, Member, NCW
Ms Reva Nayyar, Member Secretary, NCW
Mr EN Rammohan, Former Director General, BSF
Mr Anees Ahmed, Advocate Supreme Court
Ms Pinky Anand, Advocate, Supreme Court
Prof Pam Rajput, Mahila Dakshita Samiti and Director, Women's Study=20
Centre, Punjab University, Chandigarh
Dr Vasudha Dhagamwar, Executive Director, Multiple Action Research Group (M=
ARG

Saheli Women's Resource Centre
Above Shop Nos. 105-108
Defence Colony Flyover Market (South Side)
New Delhi 110 024
Tel.: 461 6485

_____

#8.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/05/11/stories/2002051101221300.htm
Hindu May 11, 2002

Where women bore the brunt
by Raka Ray

Among the women surviving in relief camps are many who have suffered
the most bestial forms of sexual violence - including rape, gang rape,
mass rape, stripping, insertion of objects into their body, and
molestations. A majority of rape victims have been burnt alive. -
Citizen's Initiative, ``The Survivors Speak,'' April 16, 2002.

General Westmoreland, commander of all U.S. troops in the war against
Vietnam, once infamously claimed that the enormous loss of life
suffered by the Vietnamese was not really comparable to the deaths of
Americans because ``Orientals attach less value to life than
Westerners''. A seven-year-old boy said to a friend of mine the other day
``There are so many Muslims in India, so what if some of them die.''
How did he learn the lesson so quickly? At how young an age do we
realise that some people are more human than others that they deserve
to die less frequently, to be mourned and glorified in their deaths, while
others don't? When do we learn that We belong to those who deserve to
live and They don't?

It is not easy to rape a woman, to burn her, or to cut her foetus out of
her body. It requires some effort. But in February this year, this effort
was successfully and collectively achieved in Ahmedabad, as we learn
from the report of the Citizen's Initiative fact-finding team of women. The
report makes it clear that young Muslim girls, pregnant women, women
with new-born babies were chased, caught, raped, cut, pierced,
stabbed, and burnt. How did this come to pass? How did groups of men
come to believe that such deeds could and should be done? Let us
examine the steps.

First, you must have a people that are considered inferior by another
people. It is achieved by years of hard ideological work, to turn the
population into the deadly Other. This Other has no feelings, cannot be
trusted, is dirty, deserves to be punished, and is not as human as We
are.

Where does the creation of the inferior other in India begin? Does it
begin with the organising principle of Hindu society caste? So
successful has this principle of inherent and dehumanising inequality
been that it appears to be rooted in our collective memory. Or does it
begin with the servant in the middle class home who exists to meet the
needs of a middle class child. It comes easily to us to slap someone
we disagree with, to abuse those who are younger or lower on the totem
pole than us, to consider outrageous any claim of a subordinate to
humanity.

But the creation of populations of the ``other'' is only the beginning. The
second step is the belief that women are not only inferior but also
woman's sexuality has to be patrolled so that it is legitimately
accessible to some men and inaccessible to others. Witness the spate
of murders of women who dare marry outside their community. Young
girls and boys learn early that a woman's body is to be monitored,
controlled by, and accessible to a chosen few. A girl, in particular,
learns quickly that her parents' honour and happiness is contingent on
her conformity to appropriate dress and behavioural codes. But
sometimes she realises too late that her body may be torn apart and
destroyed because she has dared to love another human being without
permission. A woman's body ultimately belongs to her community not
to herself.

After we have learnt how to consider those who are not Us different and
inferior, and we have learnt about the need to control and punish
women, we must then take the third step and identify the target
population and it's women. Well that is easily done in this case. As
Urvashi Butalia, Ritu Menon and Kamala Bhasin have shown, the
Us and Them feelings of communities during Partition created protected
and protectable women on one side and unprotected and rapable women
on the other side. The populations were identified at Partition and then
stored in the collective memory to be whipped into frenzy when necessary. T=
he
violence was kept alive by stories, jokes, implicit rules, and writings tha=
t
swirled underground in the darkness of both Hindu and Muslim
subconscious, until they dared to emerge in the public eye. Now, as the
Sangh Parivar reigns, these feelings and hatreds are acceptable public
discourse, particularly for the majority Hindu community. So Varsha
Bhosle writes mockingly of ``Mosies'' in her unspeakable column in
Rediff, and becomes a folk hero. To the West's focus on the figure of the
dangerous Arab, we in India, delightedly throw in our prejudices.
Muslims have always been different, their women are both deeply
oppressed and licentious, and the men sexually depraved and cruel.
Didn't you know?

For communal rapes on a mass scale we need still other conditions,
the most important of which is a complicit state. This means we must
have police who laugh or join in, leaders who blatantly discriminate and
lie, and courts, which do not prosecute. The first and second conditions
have been successfully achieved. The police at worst abetted the
violence, or refused to lodge FIRs, and at best did nothing. Every
government official who stood up against the violence has been
harassed or transferred. The BJP MLA of one of the worst-hit areas of
Ahmedabad explained away the violence by referring to the ``natural''
hatred (ghrina) of Hindus for Muslims, the Chief Minister of Gujarat
similarly referred to the ``natural and justified anger'' of the people of
his State, while the Prime Minister focussed his criticisms on the ``troubl=
e-
making Muslims''. The extent of the courts' complicity is still to be seen.

The final ingredient of this ghoulish recipe is essential - a nation full o=
f
people to either secretly gloat that these ghastly acts occurred, or even
worse, to pretend it didn't happen. Equally complicit are those who
shudder delicately that these things could happen in ``our country'', and
assign blame to a group of people, that scapegoat of the upper classes,
the ``anti-social element''. Not Us.

When all of these are in place, why then, we will have created not one
rapist but a nation full of them.

(The writer is Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California,
Berkeley.)

______

#9

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=3D9093146
The Economic Times

The Indian business elite and the illogic of collective silence
[ TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2002 12:17:02 AM ]
GUEST COLUMN / ASHOK DEO BARDHAN

THE communal carnage in Gujarat has been met with a deafening silence=20
on the part of the business leaders of the state. Notable exceptions=20
apart, the Indian business elite at large has also chosen to keep mum.

While the lack of an enlightened self-interest, national vision and=20
social responsibility have long been the hallmarks of our business=20
class, the present situation has thrown into stark relief the long=20
term costs of this stance.

The combustible combination of religion and real estate surrounding=20
the Mandir-Masjid dispute has now set into motion a veritable chain=20
of events that threaten to knock India off its long-term growth path.

Both external as well as internal sources of future growth are bound=20
to be negatively affected.

The state's abdication of its mandate to ensure and maintain law and=20
order can only be seen by foreign investors as a major stumbling=20
block for further foreign investments.

Although votaries of free markets, let there be no doubt, foreign=20
investors look for effective governments and functional states.

The notion that there is more to an economy than economics alone is=20
well understood in international financial circles.

With the trinity of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation=20
having become the discourse of our times, country-level differences=20
are more pronounced at the political and social levels, rather than=20
in the heterogeneity of economic ideologies.

International investors and country risk analysts appreciate this=20
emerging dynamic, and it is increasingly reflected in their analysis=20
of investment and business climate in countries around the world.

Although a vast range of economic and financial variables go into the=20
making of country risk assessment indicators, increasing weight is=20
now given to critical socio-political factors such as ethnic tensions=20
and social fragmentation in the country in question, the extent of=20
organised religion in politics, bureaucratic effectiveness and the=20
state's ability to enforce laws.

A proper appreciation of these issues will demystify the seemingly=20
inexorable avalanche of investments that pour into Mainland China.

Perhaps, more critically for our present purposes, it should also be=20
understood that regions and provinces within countries that=20
successfully attract foreign investments tend to compete with each=20
other on the basis of sound and effective governance and not=20
financial incentives alone.

It might be argued by some that foreign investment is not critical to=20
India's economic growth. The real engine of growth will supposedly be=20
chugging away at home on domestic fuel.

On what rails, may one ask? Instead of a physical infrastructure and=20
a supportive institutional framework, there is a growing=20
infrastructure of intolerance and burgeoning institutions of bigotry;=20
instead of the mobility of capital and labour we have mobility of=20
murder and mayhem, and instead of a stable contracting environment we=20
have a stable communal divide.

There seems to a lot of wishful thinking to the effect that once the=20
disturbances die out it will be back to business as usual; that the=20
damage wrought is but short-term.

However, the nature, duration and intensity of present events, the=20
actors involved and the role of the governments, both at central and=20
state levels, ensure that this will turn out to be a watershed=20
development in the history of the country.

The business community can turn a blind eye to its larger role in=20
society only at its own peril.

At the level of a rational, individual businessman it is no doubt=20
clearly understood that in addition to purely economic reforms and=20
measures, there are a host of political and social prerequisites=20
necessary for economic development.

The inability to translate this knowledge into a cohesive,=20
well-formulated strategy reflecting the collective aspirations of the=20
business classes for development and nation-building that also takes=20
into account the well-being of other forces in the country has=20
resulted in chronic myopia.

Just like the price of liberty, the price of liberalisation too is=20
eternal vigilance. Business circles need to take a firm and proactive=20
stance in support of secularism, for it is critical to holding the=20
country and the markets together.

Since individual businessmen might find it risky under the present=20
circumstances to stick their necks out, apex industry organisations=20
and trade groupings can surmount this co-ordination problem.

Ultimately, business must use its clout to restore and maintain=20
communal harmony in the country for the sake of its own survival and=20
growth.

One of the lessons of the history of the developed industrialised=20
world has been the strength and viability, not only of its market=20
institutions, but more so of its non-market institutions, in the=20
development of which the business community has played a vital role.

On the other hand, we also have before us the recent disastrous=20
experience of the few other countries with diverse populations where=20
the authorities and the people could not manage and contain ethnic=20
conflict. There is a clear choice to be made.
(The author is with Hass School of Business, University of=20
California, Berkeley)

--=20
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