[sacw] SACW #1 | 31 August 02

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire #1 | 31 August 2002

__________________________

#1. Appeal and invitation to South Asians to celebrate Daniel Pearl 
Music Day on Oct. 10.
#2. Flight To Freedom: BBC documentary on Forced Marriages
#3. Constitutional autocracy in Pakistan (Hassan Abbas)
#4. Pakistan: A Country Divided [Photo essay] (John Stanmeyer)
#5. A fundraising event for the survivors of the Gujarat genocide and 
for the campaign against communal hatred in Britain (13 Sept, London)
#6. India: The Election Commission's Order on Gujarat elections is 
Historic (A.G. Noorani)
#7. India: Bearing High The Flag of Protest (Stephen Rego)
#8. Book review: Communalism and Indian Princely States: Travancore, 
Baroda and Hyderabad In The 1930s By Dick Kooiman (Piyus Ganguly)
#9. India: Gujarat: Laboratory of Hindutva Terror (Sagari Chhabra)
#10. India: Appeal to Gujarat's Hindus - We Are All Responsible Now 
for What Happens in Future
#11. India: Gujarat Carnage Victims Continue To Wage Survival 
Struggle (Batuk Vora)
#12. BJP in a soup in Gujarat - Hindus In A Babel (Darshan Desai)
#13. Democracy at gunpoint - terror stalks Jammu and Kashmir (Praveen Swami )
#14. Call for papers: _Teaching South Asia: An Internet Journal of Pedagogy_
#15. India: Nirmal Mukherjee, founder Chair Person of Pakistan-India 
People's Forum for Peace and Democracy passed away on 29 Aug. 2002 
in Delhi

__________________________

#1.

APPEAL AND INVITATION TO SOUTH ASIANS TO CELEBRATE DANIEL PEARL MUSIC 
DAY ON OCT. 10.

Dear Friends

On Oct. 10, music groups and musicians will be joining people around 
the world to celebrate Daniel Pearl Music Day.

Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who lost his life to 
fundamentalists in Pakistan, was not only a journalist but also an 
avid musician who carried his mission of dialogue through words and 
music in all his travels. In every city he lived, he joined a band, 
orchestra or chamber group and made new friends through his passion 
for music, friendship and humanity.

As a tribute to his life and as a way to unite around his spirit, the 
Daniel Pearl Foundation (www.danielpearl.org) has decided to 
celebrate Danny's birthday, Oct. 10, as a day of music-making 
worldwide. Thousands of musicians, orchestras, choral groups, and 
music lovers to participate.

South Asia, where Daniel Pearl lost his life is a region reeling 
under the impact of violence; While fundamentalist groups create 
mayhem and murder in the name of God(s) or what have you, the 
governments of the region make matters worse by their warped 
priorities and increased defence spending in the face of widespread 
poverty.
It is of particular import that our sub-continent reverberates with 
music and hope against forces of hate. And it would be appropriate 
that the event promotes cross cultural, cross border understanding 
and internationalism.

Let us make this into a secular festival for peace and hope in the 
subcontinent.

Organise your own programmes, street parties and concerts on Oct 10, 
make music for friendship and solidarity with victims of 
sectarianism, riots and violence in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal 
and Bangladesh ...
It would also be appropriate to collect funds for rehabilitation of 
people effected by riots and strife in the sub continent.

If you choose to organise events on Oct 10, drop me a note at 
<aiindex@m...> and i will share this with others on the South Asia 
Citizens Wire Mailing list.

In the memory of Danny Pearl and other nameless victims of 
fundamentalist violence.

Harsh Kapoor
(South Asia Citizens Web)

____

#2.

Flight To Freedom
Tuesday 7th August, 7.30pm, BBC2

Every year a large number of British Asian girls are lured to 
Pakistan where they go through forced marriages. Last year alone the 
Foreign Office dealt with 79 such cases.

'Flight to Freedom' tells the dramatic story of the escape of three 
young girls from Bolton, whose parents took them to a remote part of 
Pakistan so that they could go through forced marriages.

The girls Narina, 22, Samina, 20 and a 15-year-old younger sister - 
who cannot be named for legal reasons - were held as virtual 
prisoners at their uncle's home and watched day and night for five 
long months.

With fully developed western tastes the girls vigorously protested 
against their forced confinement and the plans for their forced 
marriages. Their mother stole their passports and they were not 
allowed to use the telephone or write letters. A succession of what 
the sisters deemed to be 'ugly and illiterate' young men were paraded 
before them as suitors. They were told it was a matter of family 
honour and their mother and their uncles said that they would shoot 
themselves if the marriages did not go ahead.

Eventually the girls managed to make their escape disguised as three 
old women. They managed to get to Lahore, from where they contacted 
the British High Commission in Islamabad. They were looked after for 
the night by a representative from the Commission, and for eight days 
they were moved around Lahore and Islamabad where they stayed in a 
series of 'safe' hotels. The Commission staff contacted their mother 
and managed to trick her into handing over the girls' passports and 
they were brought back to Britain via a secret escape route.

The girls now live in a flat at a secret location, after living in a 
domestic violence centre in southern England. Their solicitor, Anne 
Marie Hutchinson, a campaigner who deals with 50 such cases a year is 
unhappy that they and others like them have to spend months in 
domestic violence units before being moved to a proper home. The 
sisters are creating new lives for themselves away from family and 
friends, and Narina now works for the Foreign Office helping other 
Asians who find themselves in similar situations.

Lawyers have obtained a non-molestation order against the girls' 
parents, and have also sought an order for Narina to be given legal 
guardianship of her youngest sister. Yet Narina says that she and her 
sisters have already forgiven their parents.

The three sisters re-tell their story in 'Flight to Freedom' with 
reconstructions of some key events.

East is a BBC Birmingham production for BBC TWO.

Narrated by Lisa Aziz
Series Producer: Sunandan Walia
Producer and Director: Bish Mehay
Assistant Producer: Parmjit Gill

Anyone who fears that they may be at risk from forced marriage can 
contact the Community Liaison Unit at the Foreign Office on 020 7008 
0230 and ask for a copy of their advice leaflet.

Useful Numbers
Foreign Office (Community Liaison Unit)
020 7008 0230

The Samaritans
0345 90 90 90 - UK
1850 60 90 90 - Ireland

Newham Asian Women's Project
0208 472 0528

Southall Black Sisters
020 8571 9595
020 8574 6781

Muslim Women's Helpline
0208 908 3205

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#3.

http://www.balochistanpost.com/item.asp?ID=2696
(The article is also carried by the current issue of Weekly 
Independent, Lahore)

[ August 30, 2002]

Constitutional autocracy in Pakistan
By Hassan Abbas

General Musharraf has done nothing new. It has been a norm in the
constitutional history of Pakistan. Generals in the name of democracy have
played with constitutions so many a times before. Constitutions after
constitutions were carved as a tailor-made set of regulations to suit military
dictators. The result is a truncated, disoriented and disillusioned Pakistan.

It is a pity that Pakistan has yet to establish a stable political system based
on a broadly accepted constitutional consensus, despite the fact that it
attained independence through a constitutional struggle.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan and a first-rate
constitutionalist, was very much in a position to thrust his own version of the
constitution on the new entity, but he preferred it to be formulated through
the free will of the people's representatives. The Government of India Act
1935, subject to amendments and modifications, became the provisional
constitution of Pakistan at the time of Independence in 1947. The British had
introduced this Act to have an instrument in their hands to ensure predominance
of the central authority. The years from 1947-56 proved that this spirit was
diligently maintained by the new beneficiaries.

After the death of Jinnah, the members of the Constituent Assembly manipulated
to hold on to power because they were scared of seeking fresh mandate from the
people. Elections were postponed indefinitely due to the fear that the
elections would inevitably follow the adoption of the constitution, that may
produce results which the rulers had not wanted. It is also suggested that
elections were not held because that could have resulted in shifting of power
to Bengalis who were slightly more than half of Pakistan's population.

The first constitution of Pakistan was framed in 1956 after various previous
drafts led to controversies. According to political analyst Omar Noman, "the
true architects of the document were civil servants." The constitution also had
the blessings of Governor General Iskander Mirza, who believed in "controlled
democracy", because masses he argued are "bound to act foolishly sometimes."
The Pakistan Times aptly captured this philosophy on August 14, 1956 when it
remarked: "the core of our ruling class has steadily moved themselves further
and further away from the danger of political contamination by contact with the
masses."

The 1956 constitution bill was signed by Iskander Mirza after getting the
assurance that he will be nominated as the provisional President. According to
professor Ayesha Jalal, "intimidation, outright coercion and extension of
patronage had been critical in the central leadership's success in forcing the
constitutional bill through the Constituent Assembly."

The 1962 Constitution was an effort on the part of Field Marshal Ayub Khan to
find legitimacy for his Raj in the shape of a constitutional cover. The
presumed mandate to enact the constitution derived its strength from the
restricted referendum held on February 15, 1960, that had elected Ayub as
President for five years. It was restricted in the sense that only eighty
thousand elected Basic Democrats participated in it. Ayub's right hand man
Altaf Gauhar in his book on Ayub Khan admits that, "legitimacy derived from the
mandate of the people to establish a political order sustained by their full
and free participation in the process of decision making was a concept alien to
Ayub's mind."

It is believed that Mr. Manzur Qadir, Minister for External Affairs, was
assigned the job of drafting the Constitution on the lines dictated by Ayub
Khan. The nature of the constitution was such that moved Gunnar Myrdal in Asian
Drama to remark: "it is in reality autocratic", while former prime minister
Chaudhry Mohammad Ali, later in a article in Dawn (April 2, 1963) said that the
Constitution had given birth to a government which was "a government of the
President, by the President and for the President."

The next stage in constitution-making came at the demise of Ayub's regime in
1969. After the Dacca military operation and arrest of Bengali leader Mujib-ur-
Rehman, General Yahya Khan hoped to reach early agreement with Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto on a constitutional scheme that could allow them to share power. In this
regard, a meeting took place on July 29, 1971, between Yahya and Bhutto, where
Bhutto graciously assured Yahya - "you can be the head of the state in the next
government." Consequently, General Yahya asked Justice Cornelius to prepare a
constitution, which was supposed to provide autonomy for East Pakistan
but 'within limits'.

Bhutto was of the opinion that National Assembly should discuss and finalize
the constitution. To this Yahya replied, "the constitution is not an ordinary
law and how can you, with your majority in Punjab and Sind, deny to the people
in NWFP or Baluchistan - their freedom to decide on what constitution they
agree.... there can be no majority in constitution making. You objected to
Mujib's majority bulldozing -- others would object to your bulldozing them."
Later on, when Yahya came forward with his proposed constitution, Bhutto
severely criticised it; the criticism shows the nature of Yahya's proposal:

"In any Parliamentary System, the main executive authority is vested in the
Prime Minister. You now propose to give constitutional sanctity to the office
of the President's combining it with that of the Commander-in-Chief of the
Army, endowing the president, moreover, with Emergency Powers and to some
extent Martial law powers too ... we do not want a dud President; we want an
effective president but not, as under such a scheme, a virtual dictator."
(Reference- Stanley Wolpert's Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan)

The 1973 Constitution, in comparison, was a different document as it was for
the first time in Pakistan that a directly elected legislature framed a
constitution. Although Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had the requisite majority to go
ahead with his perceived constitutional framework, which was presidential in
nature, he agreed to some fundamental modifications in his proposals as
suggested by the Opposition. Adoption of the constitution by 125 votes out of
128 present in House of 144 was undoubtedly a commendable achievement.

An analysis of the pros and cons of the constitution explains that it was a
progressive attempt towards framing a truly democratic constitution as
political culture and past experiences were given due consideration while
devising the new political set-up. Inconsistencies present in the constitutions
of 1956 and 1962 were largely removed. But unfortunately, the much celebrated
constitution could not maintain its pristine glory of unanimous approval for
long.

It was marred by the injudicious amendments, one after the other. Out of a
total of seven amendments in the constitution between 1973 and 1977, three were
widely criticized for being controversial. The Fourth Amendment Act passed in
September 1976 curtailed the jurisdiction of High Courts in matters of
preventive detention and was rushed through the Parliament despite the outcry
of the members of the opposition in the Parliament who were physically thrown
out of the National Assembly at the time of passing the Amendment Act. It was
meant for handling the opponents 'properly'.

It is interesting to note Stanley Wolpert's disclosure that Bhutto had hired an
academic expert on constitutional government, Professor Leslie Wolf Phillips of
the London School of Economics and Political Science to prepare a new
presidential constitution for Pakistan. He flew to Rawalpindi in July 1976 to
brief Bhutto on his 'top-secret labours'. It is believed that Bhutto wanted to
introduce a new "presidential" constitution after his victory in 1977, but
political developments and changed scenario never let that happen.

General Zia-ul-Haq, instead of introducing a new constitution, decided to
change the existing one to serve the purpose. The eighth amendment is
his "lasting" contribution. According to General K. M. Arif, one of the closest
associates of Zia, the proposed amendments were discussed twice in the Martial
Law Administrators' meeting in a cursory manner but Zia directed his Chief of
Staff (who held copies of the proposed amendments) not to show them to anyone.
However, it is believed that the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Branch of the
General Headquarters (GHQ) was involved in the preparation of the Eighth
Amendment and the idea of the 8th Amendment was actually approved at a Corps
Commanders Conference.

The illegitimate origin of the amendment might have been acceptable, had
National Assembly been given absolute freedom to debate and decide the matter.
Mr. Javed Hashmi, who was a member of the National Assembly (MNA) in 1985, on
record accepts that 8th Amendment "was got passed with the threat that Martial
Law would be imposed." Haji Saifullah Khan, leader of the Independent
Parliamentary Group then, also maintained that Zia threatened members of his
group with dire consequences if the amendment was not passed.

Zia used the 1985 assembly to destroy the 1973 constitution. The Muslim in his
editorial on March 2, 1985 rightly contends that eighth amendment "remains a
document of abiding shame, a lasting scar on our body politic, and an enduring
indictment of those who call themselves representatives of the People."

The apologists of the amendment argue that it has provided the much needed
balance of power between the Prime Minister and the President. But on close
scrutiny, it provides for concentration of power in the person not entitled to
it, which is bound to result in confrontation between the two highest holders
of power. It was not a genuine power equilibrium by any standards. It was an
unabashed, naked attempt to legitimize the status-quo which was acquired by
virtue of Martial Law. To call it balance of power is utter piffle.

The purpose of briefly narrating the constitutional history is just to
establish that General Musharraf's constitutional package is not a deviation by
any means. It is just that he has failed to prove that he is different from the
previous dictators Pakistan had. The writing on the wall is that his
constitutional engineering has come at a time when Pakistan has no more
capacity to digest such a dose. It may prove to be the unmaking of his regime.
But the bigger loss, as always, is of the prospects of democracy in Pakistan.

Author is a research fellow at the Harvard Law School.

_____

#4.

Pakistan: A Country Divided
John Stanmeyer captures the sights and sounds of a country caught 
between its aspirations of modernity and its Islamist roots
http://www.time.com/time/asia/photoessays/pakistan_stanmeyer/

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#5.

DON"T MISS....

South Asia Solidarity Group's

PARTY for UNITY
13 September 2002

A fundraising event for the survivors of the Gujarat genocide and for 
the campaign against communal hatred in Britain.

artists include:
Najma Akhtar- songs from her new album
Razia Aziz - on love, struggle and liberation
Lahar Asian Women's Folk Group
Kulwinder - Punjabi poet and singer
and
DJ Sonia from BBA radio

at SOAS Common Room and Bar
Thornhaugh Street
London WC1H 0XG [UK]
8pm -11.30pm

Music - Food - Licensed Bar

All Welcome
There will be no tickets for this event - we are relying on your donations!
More details soon...

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#6.

Frontline
Volume 19 - Issue 18, August 31 - September 13, 2002

A historic document
The Election Commission's Order on elections to the Gujarat Assembly 
records the actual situation in the State and exposes claims made by 
the State government and the Centre. The document should prove a 
significant input for the Supreme Court, before which the 
Presidential Reference on the subject now lies.

by A.G. NOORANI

Woh baat saare fasane men
jis ka zikr na tha
Woh baat unko bohat nagavar guzri hai
(The matter that did not figure in the entire story was the one that 
had offended her most).
- Faiz Ahmad Faiz

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1918/19180100.htm

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#7.

The Telegraph (Calcutta)
Friday, August 30, 2002

BEARING HIGH THE FLAG OF PROTEST

STEPHEN REGO
When violence rocked Gujarat during March and April, most dissenting 
voices in the state were sought to be forcefully snuffed out by the 
sheer ferocity of the attacks. Things appear to have returned to 
"normal", but there is now a more subtle form of pressure on those 
unwilling to conform to the views of the advocates of militant 
Hindutva. Ironically, these attempts at "censorship" have occurred 
not only in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its 
allies, but even in places where the Congress is in power.

Most striking of these has been a series of measures taken by the 
Mumbai police against those advocating a strong secular response to 
the Gujarat violence. Two particular incidents stand out - the 
controversy over a poster exhibition on Gujarat put up by the 
Satyashodak Vidyarthi Sanghatana, and the forcible cessation of the 
screening of two documentary films on Gujarat at the DAV College in 
the city.

In the former case, the police gave permission to the organizers of 
the National Convention for Peace and Secularism to hold their 
meeting after they promised to ensure that the SVA exhibition would 
not be displayed. Since the exhibition had not been officially 
banned, the police action was unwarranted. The same was the case with 
the screening of Junoon ke Badhta Kadam by Gauhar Raza, a film 
already screened in Mumbai, and not on any official proscribed list. 
Screenings of both the films and the exhibition were allowed after a 
series of public protests.

Unjustified steps

Similar incidents have taken place in Gujarat itself - the attack on 
a peace meeting at the Sabarmati Ashram in April and the threat to 
individuals involved in a campaign launched by the Citizen's 
Initiative for Peace are cases in point. The BJP-ruled Goa too has 
had its share of such muzzling. Screenings of Raza's film were banned 
in May on the eve of the state assembly elections there. More 
recently, the state authorities have obstructed the distribution of 
issues of Communalism Combat, particularly its special issue on 
Gujarat.

Elsewhere in the country, new forms of "censorship" are being 
increasingly imposed. Two incidents best symbolize this growing 
intolerance. One, the obstacles placed before the screening of Anand 
Patwardhan's award-winning documentary, War and Peace, and the demand 
by the censor board that vital portions of the film be cut. The other 
is the move to scuttle the Hoshangabad-based Science and Social 
Science school programmes of Eklavya, a project that had been fully 
supported by both the Madhya Pradesh government and the National 
Council for Educational Research and Training for years.

Signs of the times

What are we to make of these seemingly small and scattered incidents? 
A warning that the dark days of the Emergency may soon return? A sign 
of the times? After all, similar frenzied responses were evident in 
some of the reactions by authorities in countries like the United 
States of America, Britain, Hong Kong, Germany and so on to 
dissenting literature or even imagined dissent. Remember the fate of 
the popular American television host, Bill Maher, who was axed from 
his show, Politically Incorrect, for daring to suggest in passing 
that the September 11 hijackers had the courage of their conviction?

Perhaps it is still too early to predict where these events will 
eventually lead us to. Nevertheless, civil society appears to have 
woken up to the potential danger in letting such incidents go 
unchecked. In Mumbai, a number of protests were organized both 
against the arbitrary police actions and the events of Gujarat. New 
coalitions like Insaaniyat have brought film personalities on a 
common platform with lawyers, teachers, journalists, human rights 
campaigners, trade unions and women's equality activists and young, 
concerned citizens. Similarly, the Open Circle Arts, a group of 
Mumbai-based artists, celebrated August 6 to 14 as the "Reclaim our 
Freedom" week. It has chosen the kite as its symbol. There have been 
similar responses elsewhere. Obviously, the kites are being buffeted 
both by the winds of censorship and dissent.The coming days will tell 
whether they will be allowed to fly or not.

_____

#8.

The Telegraph (Calcutta)
Friday, August 30, 2002

DISHARMONY, AS IT BEGAN

Piyus Ganguly

Communalism and Indian Princely States: Travancore, Baroda and 
Hyderabad In The 1930s By Dick Kooiman, Manohar, Rs 500

Dick Kooiman writes, "The distinctive characteristic of the 
phenomenon called communalism is the belief that a group of people, 
because they have one ascriptive identity in common (religion or 
language), also share common interests in all other fields...Under 
British Indian colonialism the religious definition of community 
became so dominant that in common discourse communalism has become 
more or less synonymous with communalism of the religious variety".

Kooiman draws from contemporary sources to show that the harmful 
impact of communalism in its different guises was more pronounced in 
British India than in the Indian states. In the latter there was 
occasional militancy, but Hindu-Muslim riots were not so frequent and 
much less serious than in the directly administered provinces. 
Efforts to come to grips with the communal problem have to take into 
account the historical circumstance that shaped its emergence.

This book tries to understand the communal problem. Apart from 
exploring the historical background to inter-religious relations, it 
also studies indirectly ruled princely states, particularly in the 
decades immediately before independence. The thrust is on the growth 
of communalism in the princely states and the impact of government 
measures like electoral arrangements and federal schemes on religious 
identities.

According to one theory, with the gradual introduction of the 
divisive system of election and other policies based on simple 
majority rule, communal conflicts became progressively frequent in 
the princely states as well. The government's policy to provide 
religious communities with separate electorates has often been cited 
as a powerful factor in the emergence of communalism. Kooiman points 
out that the distribution of political privilege along religious 
lines has divided people into mutually exclusive, often hostile, 
groups.

Communalism was rampant in the states of Hyderabad and Travancore 
even before independence. The manifestations of communalism in the 
new state of Kerala, according to Kooiman, may be viewed as a 
continuation of the tension and conflicts that have plagued Kerala, 
especially the part that comprised Travancore, for much longer. Some 
scholars contend that Kerala's politics should be understood as an 
extension of the politics of caste and religion.

A Muslim oligarchy ruled Hyderabad. Although Muslims far outnumbered 
Hindus there, the social divergences with their explosive potential 
were already present in Hyderabad. Whereas in Travancore communal 
rivalries emerged from within as part of local developments - Hindus 
versus the Syrian Christian Church was a major factor - the communal 
fire in Hyderabad was largely inflamed from outside since the 
Thirties.

According to Kooiman, there was considerable activity of Hindu 
communal forces in Hyderabad with Arya Samaj and the Hindu Mahasabha 
taking the lead with their "aggressive mobilization" of the Hindu 
majority both inside and outside the state. Of course, Hindu leaders 
and intellectuals had to resist the conversion of their 
co-religionists. After Hyderabad's integration into the Indian Union, 
many members of the Muslim entrepreneurial and bureaucratic middle 
class migrated to Pakistan, much as elsewhere.

_____

#9.

Gujarat: Laboratory of Hindutva Terror
Sagari Chhabra [May 6, 2002]
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/SAGARIchhbara02.html

_____

#10.

August 28, 2002

Appeal to Gujarat's Hindus
This appeal sent out by a non-governmental group based in Varodara 
rural is extremely important. Please circulate it widely.

We Are All Responsible Now for What Happens in Future
http://www.sabrang.com/

_____

#11.

[30 August 2002]

CARNAGE VICTIMS CONTINUE TO WAGE SURVIVAL STRUGGLE

Batuk Vora

Ahmedabad: Two skeletons of minority youth found from a sewer inside 
Sukhramnagar Patel Society in Rakhiyal area of this city have raised 
a possibility of more missing persons thrown into the drainage by the 
fanatic mobs on Feb. 28, the day of Gujarat Bandh declared by Vishwa 
Hindu Parishad and BJP government following the Sabarmati train arson 
at Godhra the previous day.

Total police figure of missing victims was 251 and more such cases 
are now being investigated into the city?s drainage system, according 
to the police commissioner K.R.Kaushik.

Two skeletons of young men, Mohammed Shahnavaz Iqbal and Mohammed 
Shabir, were entered into an old FIR when the father of Iqbal 
recognized a trouser of his missing son found in an open man-hole. 
Police record itself stated that Iqbal and his friend Shabir were 
returning from L.G.Hospital at Maninagar after enquiring into the 
health of their injured Hindu boss Ram Murat and were way-laid by a 
rampaging Hindutva mob.

Consequently, Narendra Modi?s demand for early poll and the 
controversy over his communal remarks against the election 
commissioner Lyngdoh appears to be pushed to the background of a 
horrible picture of the ground reality, as reported day in and day 
out in Gujarati media. 47 persons out of missing 251 belong to 
Ahmedabad, according to the police records.

Another report circulating here is related to the ?dark future? of 
around 400 victim kids sheltered at Haj House specially visited by 
none other than Rashtrapati Abul Kalam. After hearing the woes of the 
kids and their guardians about the lack of any educational facility 
available to the kids, as many of the kids had become orphans during 
the carnage, President instructed the Ahmedabad district collector 
Shrinivasan on the spot to see that such an arrangement was made. 
?Nothing so far has been done,? outcried a victim. Busy with his 
?Gaurav (Pride) Yatra? for electioneering, chief minister has also 
never visited this Haj House.

Dinesh Rawal, chairman of the city municipal corporation?s school 
board, told that he had not received any intimation so far to provide 
such a schooling facility to Haj House children.

Worst of all, it is now reported that the VHP-Bajrang Dal-BJP 
combined have not bothered to provide much succor to the Godhra 
carnage Hindu victims too. Local edition of Asian Age reported that 
condition of most of the Godhra carnage victims was miserable 
regarding the payment of promised compensation for the burnt alive 
victims. Navin Bhahmabhatt spoke with anger at a high pitch against 
VHP that he did not receive a penny of cash beyong Rs 60,000 for his 
lost wife Niru (against a promise of Rs 100,000), that was used as a 
payment towards old debt; he got nothing except some edible oil and 
grain. Navin himself was bedridden.

With rolling tears in his eyes, another relative of a victim Dr Rawal 
said that his own dead son had attended a VHP meeting that had 
decided to pay Rs 50,000 to each victim besides the death 
compensation , but ?VHP never fulfilled this promise.? Dr Jaideep 
Patel, prominent VHP leader said that he himself was not present in 
such a meeting and so he could not confirm to such a promise.

President?s visit to Naroda Patia, an east Ahmedabad site of the 
worst ever human slaughter where 112 people were burnt or cut alive, 
was marked by his coming across an 18 year old half burnt boy who was 
still waiting desperately for treatment. Shahjehan, the boy, looked 
at the President and could not utter a word and the President placed 
his palm on his forehead at such a terrible site, told his officials 
to provide medical aid to this victim. But it is now reported by a 
local daily Gujarat Today and Times of India too, that the boy was 
still waiting for such a treatment.

It was only after six long months of homeless and jobless condition 
that the victim residents of Ghasiram-ni-Chawl saw a pan shop erected 
by one Vijay Rajput blocking their way to homes right in the middle 
of the narrow path was removed by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation 
two days back after a repeated flow of complaints and hue and cry by 
the victims. ?Only now we will be able to enter our destroyed 
homes?We could not rehabilitate due to this obstacle so far, ? wailed 
a resident Fatima Bibi. However, the encroacher Rajput has not yet 
been arrested, he being closer to VHP, she said.

?He would have been six months old today,? said Firoz Sheikh, husband 
of the victim pregnant woman Kausarbai whose body from neck to 
nine-month pregnant stomach was slit by a sword by a crowd of 20-25 
fanatics. Sheikh was speaking about his dead wife and child while 
breaking down before the press. Identity of that woman was 
established only now after months of agony.

Stories from rural areas of central and north Gujarat sound equally 
chilling. 11 members of a family were butchered near a village of 
Paneru in North Gujarat, so far unrecorded or unreported. This was 
found out only now when some victims were approached by a 
correspondent of Indian Express.

Gujarat at present is seized with a new kind of tension among the two 
communities following the hectic preparation by the BJP government to 
take out a so called Gaurav Yatra through 11 districts of the state 
from Sept. 3 onward. Congress President Shankersingh Vaghela has 
planned a parallel rally of his caste Kshatriyas of Fagvel village 
from where Narendra Modi planned to launch a Yatra with 10 battalions 
of SRP protecting his mechanized Rath and his people. Fagvel is part 
of Vaghela?s parliamentary constituency. Entire village is passing 
through a hot wave of tension. THE END

______

#12.

Outlook Magazine | Sep 09, 2002
GUJARAT
Hindus In A Babel
The BJP is threatened, not only by a buoyant Congress, but by 
dissidents and angry saints as well
DARSHAN DESAI
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20020909&fname=Gujarat+%28F%29&sid=1

______

#13.

Frontline
Volume 19 - Issue 18, August 31 - September 13, 2002

Democracy at gunpoint

In the run-up to the elections, terror stalks Jammu and Kashmir, 
particularly in its rural areas. Its perpetrators, remote-controlled 
from across the border, are attempting to intimidate civil society 
more than politicians and party activists. Yet there is no dearth of 
potential candidates in most constituencies, in stark contrast to 
1996.

PRAVEEN SWAMI
in Srinagar
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1918/19180250.htm

______

#14.

H-ASIA
August 30, 2002

Call for papers: _Teaching South Asia: An Internet Journal of Pedagogy_
************************************************************************
From: Project South Asia

Dear H-Asia Colleagues:

_Teaching South Asia: An Internet Journal of Pedagogy_ (ISSN 1529-8558)
is seeking submissions for its Winter 2002-03 issue. _Teaching South
Asia_ is a unique on-line journal, published by Project South Asia, a
digital library of teaching resources about South Asia for colleges and
universities 
<http://www.mssc.edu/projectsouthasia>http://www.mssc.edu/projectsouthasia).

The new journal is freely accessible through the Internet, and devoted
exclusively to promoting the study and teaching of South Asia at the
post-secondary level. One can access _Teaching South Asia_ through this
URL:

<http://www.mssc.edu/projectsouthasia/TSA/index.htm>http://www.m
ssc.edu/projectsouthasia/TSA/index.htm

Published annually, this electronic journal features articles, written
by teaching professors from around the world, addressing issues and
problems of course and curriculum development relating to South Asia,
from introductory courses in World History and International Studies,
to upper division specialty courses in the field. The on-line journal
acts as a forum for teaching professors discussing new and innovative
ways of infusing the study of South Asia into the undergraduate and
post-graduate classroom in a wide range of courses, and lays important
emphasis on interdisciplinary teaching methods. It contains sections
dealing with the art and craft of teaching about South Asia, the state
of the field, introductory essays, notes and comments, teaching
resources, review articles, and book/video/CD/software reviews. Unlike
traditional print journals, for which rising paper and printing costs are
a factor, _Teaching South Asia_ provide
s more space for discussion and
thus serves to stimulate faculty involvement in the pedagogical aspects
of South Asian studies in ways that no print journal can.

The premier issue of _Teaching South Asia_ (Winter 2001-02) contained
contributions from 10 South Asia scholars and teaching professors who
work and teach in three different countries (four from India, four from
the United States, and two from Australia) and, indeed, on three
different continents.

We invite you to explore our new journal, to offer suggestions for items
you would like to see covered in future issues and, most especially, if
you have academic credentials in the field, to consider contributing an
article or other item for publication in the next issue of _Teaching
South Asia_. Our notes to contributors can be accessed at:

<http://www.mssc.edu/projectsouthasia/tsa/VIN1/ContribNotes.htm>http://www.mssc.edu/projectsouthasia/tsa/VIN1/ContribNotes.htm

All best,

Dr. Karl J. Schmidt, Editor
_Teaching South Asia_
Director, Project South Asia
Associate Professor of History
Missouri Southern State College
Joplin, MO 64801-1595
USA

_____

#15.

August 30, 2002

From:
Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy
Secretariat: B-14 (second floor) Gulmohar Park,
New Delhi 110 049
Tel: 6561743/6514847

Dear Friends,

We regret to inform you that Mr. Nirmal Mukherjee, founder Chair 
Person of Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy 
passed away last night in Delhi after prolonged illness.

There is a prayer meeting at his house at 1.30 p.m. today (30.8.2002) 
and the funeral will be at 4 p.m. at War Cemetery, Brar Square, Delhi 
Cantonment, New Delhi. He leaves behind his wife, two daughters and 
a son. Those who want to send condolence message may please send 
it to the following address:

D-1008
New Friends Colony
New Delhi 110 065
Tel: 6911832

(Deena)

E. Deenadayalan
On behalf of the Secretariat

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