[sacw] SACW | 7 Jan. 03

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | 7 January 2003

CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY -- GUJARAT 2002: A report on the=20
investigations, findings and recommendations of the Concerned=20
Citizens' Tribunal
on http://www.sabrang.com.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE OF HATE- IDRF and the American Funding of Hindutva
A report on the US-based organization -- the India Development and=20
Relief Fund (IDRF), which has systematically funded Hindutva=20
operations in India.
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/2002/FEH/

__________________________

#1. Young Sri Lankans Are Lost to Forced Rebel Enlistment (Amy Waldman)
#2. Bangladesh: CPJ calls for release of detained journalists
#3. Statement on War Against Iraq (Pakistanis for Peace and=20
Alternative Development)
#4. Renegade Militants in Kashmir: Akhila Raman
#5. Broken People, Broken Promises- Dalits face a new threat from=20
India's Hindu nationalists (Jehangir Pocha)
#6. January 2003 issue of 'the-south-asian'
#7. INSAF Bulletin [9] January 1, 2003
#8. India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch No.106 (31 December 2=
002)

__________________________

#1.

The New York Times
January 6, 2003

Young Sri Lankans Are Lost to Forced Rebel Enlistment
By AMY WALDMAN

KINNAIYADI, Sri Lanka, Dec. 29 - The floods ruined this season's=20
paddy harvest in this village of sandy earth and slanting palms.

The harvest of its youth went ahead.

Ten days ago, at least 18, and possibly 60 or more, young people,=20
according to different villagers' estimates, were taken off to join=20
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, one of the world's most=20
ruthless and effective secessionist movements. Many of them were boys=20
and girls, some as young as 12.

Some were taken by force, yanked from houses or scooped up along the=20
roadside like found treasure. Others went "voluntarily," to spare=20
their parents after Tiger cadres repeatedly threatened them if they=20
did not supply the movement with a child. They were loaded into=20
tractor-trailers and taken away.

For 20 years, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have fought for a=20
separate state for the minority Tamils of Sri Lanka, the island=20
nation off India's southern tip. The Tamils, many of whom are Hindu,=20
are concentrated in the northern and eastern parts of the country.=20
They say their cause has been motivated by discrimination against=20
them by the Sinhalese, many of whom are Buddhist, who make up three=20
quarters of the country's population of 18 million.

Much of the rebels' battle has been fought on the backs, and bodies,=20
of child soldiers, according to human rights organizations, including=20
the United Nations.

Today, however, the Tigers have paused in their armed struggle and=20
put aside the quest for their own state. They are in peace talks with=20
the Sri Lankan government. They are trying to obtain regional=20
autonomy for the Tamil people and to transform themselves into a=20
legitimate political organization.

They insist that they no longer have, or accept, children in their=20
ranks. In recent months, they have undertaken the highly publicized=20
releases of 165 children.

In an interview in Kilinochchi, the Tigers' administrative capital,=20
the movement's political leader, S. Thamilchelvam, said: "We want to=20
discount the disinformation campaign of previous governments. There=20
was no conscription. There were no child soldiers."

But in whispered interviews here, villagers - afraid for their lives=20
if their identities were revealed - told of a relentless recruiting=20
campaign, in which the only way to save children was to send them=20
away. One woman who had two nieces and one nephew taken told how=20
parents, angry that they were losing their own child, had steered=20
cadres toward their neighbors' children as well.

A police intelligence official confirmed that children had been=20
taken; he estimated the number at 30 or 35. One villager interviewed=20
put the number at 60 over three days. [A representative of a human=20
rights organization, who subsequently visited the village, was told=20
that 100 young people, mostly under 18, were taken.]

Complaints filed with international aid groups, as well as interviews=20
with Tamils and community leaders in the Tiger-controlled north and=20
east, also indicate that child enlistment and abduction, while down=20
from past levels, continue.

There was a time when young people, including some children, joined=20
on their own. The cause seemed just, and for a poor child, the=20
movement offered meals and security.

While some children still join voluntarily, swayed by recruiting=20
meetings at which Tigers show propaganda films of battle victories,=20
villagers say the appetite for war here is gone. The Tigers alone=20
have lost 17,600 cadres in battle, and the country a total of more=20
than 64,000 lives. So to bolster their ranks, the Tigers appear to be=20
continuing to use coercion, both of those under and over 18.

Whether classified as recruitment or abduction, taking children into=20
the movement is a violation of a cease-fire agreement signed last=20
February, which bars, in accordance with international law, hostile=20
acts against civilians. It is also a violation of the Tigers' own=20
public pledges.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, a team of Scandinavians invited by=20
both sides to monitor the cease-fire, has certified 281 cases of=20
child recruitment from February through October, with more than 400=20
cases still being investigated; in November, there were 24.
"We also clearly realize our complaints are the tip of the iceberg,"=20
said the group's spokesman, Teitur Torkelsson. "They're not even=20
half." In the north, international aid groups have about 50 open=20
cases of children who have been taken since the cease-fire was=20
signed. There have also been reports that homes the Tigers maintain=20
for children orphaned by war have been used as recruiting grounds for=20
the rebels.

But most of the complaints come from the Batticaloa district in=20
Eastern Province, where this village is.

In fact, the conscription in Kinnaiyadi appears to be only the latest=20
wave of forced recruitment, often of children, in the Batticaloa=20
area. Here, Tamils said, the Tigers' policy remains as it has long=20
been: every family with three or more children must give one.

"They have thousands, and they're still taking them," said the Rev.=20
Harry Miller, an American Jesuit priest who has lived in the town of=20
Batticaloa for more than a half century. In July, he said, the Tigers=20
took eight children from outside a Hindu temple feast on the edge of=20
Batticaloa.

"We haven't gotten any back," he said.

Of the problems in the east, Mr. Thamilchelvam said they were=20
"instances" that had been brought to the notice of the high command,=20
and the political hierarchy had been ordered to make sure they were=20
not repeated. But he said the demographics of the area - there are=20
large Muslim and Sinhalese populations as well - meant that Tamil=20
youths often sought protection by joining the guerrillas.

This village is technically under government control, with an army=20
camp just feet from its edge. But it has largely been forgotten by=20
the government. The school ends at fifth grade and often is closed by=20
flooding; the only nearby hospital, serving a constellation of=20
villages and towns, can see only 50 patients a day.

Instead, it is the Tigers who hold sway here, which is why villagers=20
have been afraid to even make an official complaint to the police.=20
Terror chokes the shady byways. Residents, as in much of Batticaloa,=20
say they do not open their mouths except to eat. To speak, even=20
anonymously, they said, could mean putting their lives on the line.=20
No one knows who is with the Tigers, but anyone might be.

If the past is any guide, those taken will be taken to Tiger training=20
camps, given new names and told their past is a closed chapter. Some=20
parents may never see their children again.

One 64-year-old woman near Kinnaiyadi, who spoke on condition of=20
anonymity out of fear, told how last February, Tigers tried to extort=20
money from her son under threat of death. To save him, his own son,=20
19, agreed to join the movement. He has not been seen since.

Others catch glimpses, often in brief and tearful reunions, of their=20
children at the Tigers' annual Heroes' Day celebrations. Some young=20
recruits escape, although the Tigers sometimes take a relative=20
hostage until the escapee returns.

A few are released, as was the case in an incident involving five=20
young men from the town of Batticaloa between the ages of 18 and 22=20
who were taken on Dec. 17.

One of them, who spoke along with his mother - both of them too=20
fearful to be identified - said he and his friends had gone to a=20
Tiger office with some cadres because they thought they would be able=20
to watch films. Instead, they were put in a van, taken two hours away=20
and told that now that they were 18, it was their duty to join the=20
movement and either fight for a separate state or help run a=20
peacetime administration.

Their families, meanwhile, had found their sons' bicycles outside a=20
Tiger office. The Tigers said the young men had willingly joined the=20
movement, and told the parents to take home their bikes and jewelry.

Skeptical, tenacious mothers demanded that their sons be asked in=20
front of them if they had joined voluntarily, and they protested to=20
international organizations. The young men were quietly released two=20
days after they had been taken.

Mr. Thamilchelvam, who is third in the Tigers' hierarchy, repeatedly=20
insisted there had been no forced conscription. Civilians,=20
"especially young people," had voluntarily supported the movement, he=20
said. Children who had lost parents and relatives during the war had=20
sought refuge with the movement and been placed in orphanages, he=20
said. Tiger officials insisted that children from the orphanages were=20
not allowed to join the movement.

But critics of the guerrillas have long insisted that the orphanages=20
were themselves fertile recruitment grounds for the organization. One=20
18-year-old in Batticaloa in the east told how after her two brothers=20
were forcibly conscripted by the Tigers and then died fighting for=20
them, the Tigers told her mother they were taking her sister to an=20
orphanage to educate her. She, too, ended up dead on a battlefield.

Visits to two orphanages in the north, in the jungle area that is the=20
Tigers' base, did little to clarify their real purpose. At the=20
Sencholai orphanage for girls, the picture of Velupillai Prabhakaran,=20
the Tigers' revered and feared leader, is in the classroom, and the=20
girls call him "Uncle." "He's more or less the foster parent for=20
these children," said Janani, the 43-year-old Tiger who runs the=20
orphanage.

At the boys' orphanage, there was a shrine to the Tigers' suicide bombers.

One girl who had come at 14 - out of her "desire," she said=20
nervously, as several cadres listened - was now, at age 17, a cadre,=20
as were several other girls. Janani said perhaps "two or three" had=20
joined the movement. She would not permit a visit to the older girls'=20
quarters.

The 17-year-old cadre was also not an orphan - her parents were alive=20
and living in the area. Tiger officials say that if they believe the=20
movement can better raise a child from a poor family, they will take=20
him or her, with the parents' permission.

Janani said that perhaps 10 percent of the girls were not truly=20
orphans. Sometimes parents came wanting to take their children back,=20
she said, but if the children did not want to go, "We can't force=20
them."

It is not hard to find evidence of the Tigers' history with children,=20
particularly as they move former military cadres into the civil=20
administration they run in the north. There is the 18-year-old=20
customs official who said he joined at 16, the assistant in the=20
political wing who joined at 15 or 16, and another who joined at 12,=20
and from the battles he cited, first fought at 14 or 15.

Then there is the cemetery outside Kilinochchi, the final resting=20
place for 1,938 war heroes. The headstones have the cadres' real=20
names, their "movement names," their parents' names, their villages=20
of origin and the dates of their deaths.

On each, the only thing missing is the date of birth.

______

#2.

January 6, 2003

Committee to Protect Journalists
330 Seventh Avenue, 12th floor
New York, NY 10001

Her Excellency Khaleda Zia
Prime Minister, People's Republic of Bangladesh
Office of the Prime Minister
Dhaka, Bangladesh

Via facsimile: 88-02-811-3244

Your Excellency:

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the prolonged detention
of journalist Saleem Samad, who remains in government custody on charges of
"anti-state activities" after working with a documentary crew for Britain's
Channel 4 "Unreported World" series. On December 24, government authorities
ordered that Samad remain in custody for 30 more days, despite a High Court
order granting him bail.

CPJ is also concerned that journalist Shahriar Kabir in still in detention
after being arrested on December 8. Authorities have said that Kabir is
being held in connection with the Channel 4 case, but have offered no
further explanation for his arrest. Samad and Kabir are both being detained
under the Special Powers Act, which allows authorities to detain anyone
suspected of anti-state activities for up to 90 days without trial.

Police have charged Kabir with "anti-state activities," and authorities
recently moved Kabir from Dhaka Central Jail to a jail in the southern city
of Chittagong. During a court hearing on December 12, Kabir told
investigators that he had been "brutally tortured" in prison and denied foo=
d
for more than 24 hours, according to Bangladeshi press reports. On January
4, the High Court declared Kabir's detention illegal and ordered his releas=
e
within 24 hours. On January 5, the government ignored the ruling and ordere=
d
Kabir to remain in detention for 90 more days.

Samad was arrested on November 29 soon after Zaiba Malik and Bruno
Sorrentino, Britain-based journalists working on the Channel 4 documentary,
were arrested and accused of sedition. Samad had worked as a fixer for Mali=
k
and Sorrentino. He is currently being held in Kashimpur jail in Joydevpur,
outside the capital, Dhaka.

On December 11, Malik and Sorrentino were released and deported to the
United Kingdom.

Priscilla Raj, a Bangladeshi freelance reporter and human rights activist,
was also arrested on November 25 and charged with "anti-state activities"
for acting as an interpreter for Malik and Sorrentino. On December 22, Raj
was released on bail but the charges against her still stand.

Both Raj and Samad have said that they were tortured with electric shocks
while in prison, according to CPJ sources in Bangladesh and press reports.
On December 4, while being transported back to prison after attending his
bail hearing in court, Samad shouted to journalists out the window of his
van, "I have been subjected to inhuman torture," according to Bangladeshi
press reports.

As a non-partisan organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of
our colleagues worldwide, CPJ condemns your government's complete disregard
for the legal process in Bangladesh, under which both Saleem Samad and
Shahriar Kabir should have been released on bail. Furthermore, we are
gravely concerned by allegations that they may have been tortured while in
government custody. CPJ calls for the journalists' release from prison, and
asks that all charges against Samad, Kabir and Raj be immediately and
unconditionally dropped. Meanwhile, the allegations of torture must be
promptly and thoroughly investigated.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We await your response.

Sincerely,

Ann Cooper
Executive Director

CC:
Bangladesh Centre for Development, Journalism, and Communication
Media Watch
South Asian Journalists Association
American Society of Newspaper Editors
Amnesty International
Article 19 (United Kingdom)
Artikel 19 (The Netherlands)
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Freedom Forum
Freedom House
Human Rights Watch
Index on Censorship
International Center for Journalists
International Federation of Journalists
International PEN
International Press Institute
Lorne W. Craner, United States Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human
Rights, and Labor
The Newspaper Guild
The North American Broadcasters Association
Overseas Press Club
Reporters Sans Fronti=E8res
Sergio Vieira de Mello, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Society of Professional Journalists
World Association of Newspapers
World Press Freedom Committee

______

#3.

Pakistanis
for Peace And Alternative Development (PPAD)

London, 6 January 2003

War Against Iraq

PPAD is an international Peace and Alternative Development group of=20
academics, intellectuals, professionals and peace activists formed to=20
promote peace, tolerance and alternative development in South Asia.=20
Like many other groups working for peace, we are extremely concerned=20
by the continued rhetoric of an impending war against Iraq which is=20
likely to kill thousands of innocent men, women and children and=20
destabilise the whole region.

The present frenzy of war with its likely use of lethal weapons by=20
the American and the British governments will be disastrous not only=20
for the present but also for a peaceful resolution of similar=20
conflicts in the future. After more than a decade of suffering,=20
privations and continuous bombing, inflicting yet another war on the=20
helpless people of Iraq cannot be justified. We firmly believe that=20
to fight terror with yet more terror at such a scale will not resolve=20
the problem. It will only lead to a long-term political=20
destabilisation in the Middle East and raise the level of general=20
anger and frustration likely to promote yet more terrorism around the=20
world.

The war on Iraq will weaken the institution of the United Nations=20
and, therefore, the democratic tradition of international consensus=20
in the world politics by legitimising unilateral action which has the=20
potential of dangerously spreading to many other regions of the globe.

In conjunction with the widespread world opinion for NO WAR, we=20
appeal to both the American and British governments and the world=20
community of nations to work with the United Nations, and act with=20
restraint in order to resolve this dispute through negotiations and=20
with justice and peaceful means. We believe that war in Iraq is not=20
inevitable and that the people of the USA and Great Britain can, and=20
must, play a vigorous role in averting yet another human and=20
environmental tragedy.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Ahmed Shibli
Co-ordinator PPAD

Co-ordinator: Dr Ahmed Shibli, London=20
<mailto:ias23@h...>ias23@h...
Members: Dr Ghazala Anwar, New Zealand. Group Captain (Rt.) Cecil=20
Chaudhry, Pakistan. Nazeer A Chaudhry, USA. Prof. Hassan Gardezi,=20
Canada. Arif Hasan, Pakistan. Prof. Dr. Syed Hamidullah, Pakistan.=20
Prof. Bilal Hashmi, USA. Owais Hasin, Pakistan. Ayyub Malik, UK. Dr=20
Babar Mumtaz, UK. Prof. A H Nayyar, Pakistan. Dr Saghir Shaikh, USA

______

#4.

Renegade Militants in Kashmir: Akhila Raman
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=3D32&ItemID=3D2780

On July 16, the DNA test by the Central Forensic Laboratory,
Kolkata, has established that the five persons killed by
Indian security forces in an "encounter" in Panchalthan
following the massacre of 35 Sikhs in Chattisinghpora in
Kashmir Valley in March 2000, were in fact civilians and
not "foreign militants" as claimed by the forces. In the light
of the latest findings, it is worthwhile to re-examine the
mystery of the Chattisinghpora massacre and the possible
reasons behind the subterfuge by the Indian forces and the
related phenomenon of renegade militants used by India as
the secret army in Kashmir.

______

#5.

In These Times (Chicago)
January 3, 2003

Broken People, Broken Promises
Dalits face a new threat from India's Hindu nationalists.
By Jehangir Pocha

Stick-wielding Hindu mobs rampage through Gujarat last March. The=20
riots left 2,000 dead.
Audiences in Bombay's derelict Art-Deco cinema halls often hoot and=20
whistle when their hero vanquishes a villain. Made to formula,=20
Bollywood movies often end with the hero punching up a local thakkur,=20
an upper-caste landlord, for the many injustices he perpetrated=20
against the peasants during the preceding three hours. When the=20
battered villain finally begs for mercy between sobs of guilt and=20
remorse, the hero usually shows his softer side and reprimands the=20
landlord. At this point, a police officer magically appears to=20
handcuff the chastised villain and thank the hero for fighting the=20
good fight: "Now the law will give him his punishment," the officer=20
says, as the curtain comes down to cheers.

But Bollywood is a fantasy.

In a 2,000-year-old hangover from one bad idea, India's 250 million=20
"untouchables," who call themselves Dalits, and tribal people still=20
endure crushing oppression and political manipulation from upper=20
castes. The category of "untouchables" was officially abolished in=20
India more than half a century ago, but despite affirmative action=20
that has led to considerable gains for the group-two Indian=20
governments have been led by Dalit parties-discrimination and=20
persecution of Dalits are still rife. Human rights groups estimate=20
that hundreds of thousands of caste-based crimes occur in India each=20
year. Very few of these are reported. Only a handful are ever=20
prosecuted.

Caste conflict does not produce many soundbites or banner headlines.=20
The stories of these silent sieges are buried in local newspapers and=20
dusty police logs in remote Indian villages. They are about the grim,=20
persistent denial of basic human rights to about 250 million people,=20
and the regular but unspectacular injustices perpetrated against them=20
by oppressors who consider them the lowest human life form. The=20
dehumanizing nature of these crimes reveals more about the problem=20
than sheer numbers.

* India's National Human Rights Commission reports that, in=20
some areas, Dalits are still forced to live in segregated colonies=20
and work in inhuman conditions. They are "denied the use of the same=20
wells and the same temples as caste Hindus, and are even forbidden to=20
drink from the same cups in tea stalls," says Dr. K. Jamnadas, a=20
leading Dalit activist.
* In the aftermath of a 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, relief=20
agencies were forced to mark their supplies of blood with the caste=20
of the person it came from, or else people would not use them.
* That same year in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal, a low-caste=20
woman named Sukhviri Devi was stripped naked and beaten to death by=20
two upper-caste men. Her sin was to cross their path while carrying=20
an empty pail-an inauspicious act. The attack occurred just days=20
before President Clinton's visit to the city.
* In Bareilly, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, a local=20
official, Shabbir Ahmad, beat to death a low-caste teen-ager in 2000=20
for plucking flowers from his garden.
* Last year in Lucknow, also in Uttar Pradesh, in a grotesquely=20
medieval version of a classic romantic tragedy, a lower-caste girl=20
and upper-caste boy were publicly lynched by their families, who were=20
incensed at the "impure" relationship. Hundreds watched and applauded.

Even as many Dalits and tribals struggle for access to the full legal=20
rights granted to them in 1950, they face a new and insidious threat=20
from India's Hindu nationalists-a threat that could subvert their=20
fledgling political movement, unleash new waves of violence, and trap=20
them once again onto the lowest rungs of the social hierarchy.

On October 15, as people all over India celebrated the Hindu festival=20
of dusherra, five Dalits were arrested by local police in the Jhajjar=20
district of the state of Haryana. Their alleged crime: killing and=20
skinning a cow in public. (Cow slaughter, in deference to Hindu=20
sensibilities, is banned in most of India.) When news of the arrests=20
spread, a mob broke into the police station and lynched the five men=20
in the presence of more than 50 policemen, city magistrates and=20
government officials. Later, police admitted that there was no=20
evidence against the men.

Ethnic tensions had been high in Jhajjar since 33 Dalit families=20
converted to Islam sometime in August. Historically, many Dalits have=20
converted to Buddhism, Christianity or Islam to escape the "badge of=20
dishonor" orthodox Hinduism placed on them. Local NGOs and political=20
parties charged that the attack had been politically motivated by the=20
Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, two Hindu fundamentalist=20
organizations.

The attack brought into sharp relief the escalating tensions between=20
Dalits and the Sangh Parivar, the Hindu nationalist movement that=20
encompasses the government's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The=20
Sangh Parivar wants to unite all India's ethnic groups against=20
Muslims and Christians. In what has been described as a "war for=20
souls," the Sangh Parivar has launched an aggressive campaign to=20
convince Dalits and tribals to surrender their traditional identities=20
and follow mainstream Hinduism.

The BJP's artful manipulation of Hindu-Muslim divisions brought it to=20
power in 1998 as the head of a coalition government, but it has never=20
won an absolute parliamentary majority. Suspicious of the BJP's=20
campaign for law based on Hindutva, an orthodox set of Hindu=20
principles, India's 250 million Dalits have found greater common=20
cause with India's 120 million Muslims and other minorities. Their=20
alliance, thus far, has limited the BJP's ability to further the=20
Hindu nationalist agenda.

---
The Sangh Parivar's efforts to convert untouchables and tribals is a=20
cynical attempt to fracture their sense of solidarity with Muslims.=20
"The party wants to direct the combined force of this massive vote=20
bank against Muslims and Christians, whom it despises, and transform=20
secular India into a Hindu state ruled by Hindutva," says Radhika=20
Desai, a professor at the University of Victoria in Canada, who works=20
with tribal communities in Gujarat.

The Sangh Parivar claims that their efforts to absorb these people=20
"back" into Hinduism is an attempt to ameliorate the caste=20
differences that have separated Dalits and tribals from mainstream=20
society in the first place. But a closer look at the Sangh Parivar's=20
conversion programs reveals a different agenda. In recent years, it=20
has begun to establish a network of religious schools and development=20
centers across India's remote and tribal areas.

Funded extensively by the Indian expatriate community in the United=20
States, these schools are the Trojan horse of the Hindu right. Luring=20
credulous and desperately poor Dalit and tribal youth with promises=20
of education and social uplift, the Sangh Parivar preaches a radical=20
version of Hindu supremacy that gains strength at the expense of=20
Indian Muslims and other minorities.

Desai and others charge that the Sangh Parivar, leveraging the=20
devotional fervor of these unsophisticated new converts, is using the=20
former "untouchables" as shock troops in their violent anti-Muslim=20
pogroms.

Evidence of this emerged after the March 2002 riots in Gujarat-riots=20
that were widely believed to have been orchestrated by the Sangh=20
Parivar. The riots, which were retribution for an earlier attack by=20
Muslims on a train carrying Hindu fundamentalists, left 2,000 dead=20
and 100,000 homeless. Witnesses and investigators said the local BJP=20
government and Sangh Parivar groups systematically trucked=20
intoxicated mobs into Muslim areas, directing them via computerized=20
lists to destroy Muslim property. Within hours, a state renowned for=20
its ancient citadels and verdant hamlets lay blood-drenched, scorched=20
and pillaged.

According to the People's Union for Civil Liberties, areas where=20
large numbers of youth are enrolled in tribal development centers=20
experienced some of the worst violence against Muslims. As smoke=20
still billowed from burning cities and scorched fields, K.K. Shastri,=20
chairman of a Sangh Parivar group in Gujarat, publicly praised=20
rioters from an area where his group runs a tribal development=20
center: "They have done an amazing job."

"The irony of it all," says Deepika Chadha, an activist in Gujarat,=20
"is that the most backward community, the tribals, were being=20
manipulated into battering the next most backward, the Muslims, at=20
the behest of the most privileged."

----
Despite promises to the contrary, critics say, the converts from the=20
Sangh Parivar religious schools are not treated as equals in their=20
new faith. In an ingenious move designed to retain the basic=20
principles of caste superiority, Dalit and tribal converts are=20
assigned to worship only the minor gods of Hinduism, like Hanuman,=20
the warrior monkey-king who served Ram, but not major gods like Ram=20
himself. "Making tribals and Dalits worship a minor god who was a=20
disciple of their own god is not a way of giving them a place, but a=20
way of showing them their place," Desai says. "It's like Christian=20
missionaries seeing new converts as somewhat unworthy of worshipping=20
Christ and teaching them to worship Peter instead. It's not=20
conversion, it's subversion."

While aggressively pursuing its own "conversion strategy," the Sangh=20
Parivar and its allies are sponsoring state-level legislation banning=20
religious conversion. Legal experts say that the legislation is=20
written in such a way that it uses the Sangh Parivar's definition of=20
Hinduism to delegitimize Dalit conversions to Islam or Christianity,=20
while allowing Dalit conversion to Hinduism. Recently the southern=20
state of Tamil Nadu, which is governed by a BJP ally, became the=20
first state to pass such a law. More states are poised to follow,=20
even though restrictions on conversion defy India's constitution.

To curry support from the electorate, the Sangh Parivar is packaging=20
its call for a homogenous Hindu identity around the age-old argument=20
that divisions within Hinduism weaken India. It claims that it is=20
protecting India and Hinduism, which it sees as synonymous, from the=20
"foreign influences" of Islamic Pakistan, Communist China and the=20
Christian West.

To further isolate Muslims and Christians, the Sangh Parivar is also=20
pressuring India's non-Muslim and non-Christian minorities-Sikhs,=20
Jains and Buddhists-to embrace the Hindutva platform. In a sweeping=20
and novel definition of Hinduism, the Sangh Parivar claims that all=20
people and faiths with "roots in India" are Hindu. In this view,=20
Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are merely Hindu sub-sects.

The situation reveals the complex tessellation of caste and religion=20
that is driving India's increasingly ethnic politics. "The BJP's main=20
aim today is to try and gloss over historical differences within=20
Hinduism and mold Hindus into a single vote bloc it can control,"=20
Desai says. "But the Sangh Parivar's vision is not of a faith where=20
all are equal. It is of a faith where all others agree to abide by=20
the orthodox rules of a select few. ... It is Brahminism revisited."

Jehangir Pocha, a native of Bombay, is an international journalist=20
based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

______

#6.

The January 2003 issue of 'the-south-asian' has just been published=20
(URL <http://www.the-south-asian.com>www.the-south-asian.com)
It includes an interview-based feature on 'Peace in South Asia- is it=20
attainable?' - Ardeshir Cowasjee, Swami Agnivesh, Rev. Valson Thampu,=20
Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray, Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu, Raju Narisetti, and=20
'Junoon' answer the question. Other articles are: 2002 Round-up on=20
Sports & Books; Secular symbols of Sri Lanka;
Mahreen Khan - the anchor of 'Question Time Pakistan'; Corruption vs=20
NGOs; Ustad Amjad Ali Khan - 50 years of sarod; 'India in Slow=20
Motion' by Mark Tully; and more.

______

#7.

The latest issue of INSAF Bulletin [9] January 1, 2003 has just been publi=
shed

International South Asia Forum
Postal address: Box 272, Westmount Stn., QC, Canada H3Z 2T2 (Tel. 514 346-9=
477)
(e-mail; insaf@i... or visit our website http://www.insaf.net)

______

#8.

India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch No.106 (31 December 2002)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IPARMW/message/117

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