[sacw] SACW | 5-6 April 03

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire  |  5-6 April,  2003

INTERRUPTION NOTICE:
Please note, SACW dispatches are being interrupted from 7th April on 
and will resume on 11th April 2003.

________


#1. India and Pakistan : The 'middle road' to nowhere (Kamila Hyat)
#2. Bangladesh: Iraq war fallout - Islamist parties eye common 
platform (Nazrul Islam)
#3. America and the world : A view from Pakistan (Dr Farrukh Saleem)
#4. March of folly : A view from India (Praful Bidwai)
#5. URLs :   War on Iraq: Opinions
Romi Mahajan, Vijay Prashad, Rohini Jensman, Aseem Srivastava,
#6. A Poem: I Am A Woman (Bina Srinivasan)
#7. Book Review: Bruised Memories: Communal Violence and the Writer, 
edited and introduced by Tarun K. Saint  (Antara Dev Sen)
#8. Ghastly tragedy in Kashmir (Khushwant Singh)
#9. India: Kerala government's move to prosecute rationalist leader 
Sreeni Pattathanam | Model letter to support Sreeni Pattathanam
#10. India: Digging deep for truth in Ayodhya (Sankar Ray)
#11. India: Vasantrao Khanolkar Memorial Lecture : Bharatiya 
Jantantra Kis Aur ? by Aruna Roy (Bombay, April 8)
#12. USA: Dancing From Shadows: Performances by Ananya Chatterjea on 
Kashmir, Gujarat..( Minneapolis, April 7, 2003)

--------------


#1.

The News on Sunday (Pakistan)
6 April 2003

The 'middle road' to nowhere

The pragmatic policy that both India and Pakistan have pursued about 
the war on Iraq -- to avoid angering Washington -- throws 
considerable light on a world where the US dominates the globe 
economically and militarily

By Kamila Hyat

In keeping with the new pragmatism that has increasingly replaced 
ideological commitment in today's world, both Pakistan and India 
appear to have adopted what they themselves call the 'middle road' on 
the war in Iraq.

What this means in effect is that both governments have declined to 
join in the overwhelming public opposition to the war in their 
countries. Even as massive rallies shouting angry slogans against 
President George Bush take to the streets in New Delhi, Bombay, 
Lucknow, Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar -- as well as other cities in 
both countries -- Indian external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha 
talks vaguely of 'opposing any war', while his Pakistani counter, 
Khurshid Kasuri, uses almost identical language while carefully 
steering clear of condemnation for the US actions in Iraq.

Certainly, the failure of Pakistan's government to state outright its 
opposition to war or openly declare a backing within the UN for the 
anti-war positions taken by France, Germany and Russia have resulted 
in distancing it further from its own people. The decision to keep a 
mystery the matter of which way Pakistan would have voted had the UN 
been called on to give its opinion on a second resolution on Iraq 
only highlights the reluctance to cross the line dividing those who 
oppose war to those backing the US and its increasingly untidy battle 
inside Iraq.

Both nations appear to see this policy as 'realistic'. Certainly, the 
deep-rooted desire to avoid angering Washington throws considerable 
light on a world where the US holds so many of the cards and 
dominates the globe economically and militarily.

=46or Pakistan, there are also other reasons to ensure it does not lose 
what favours it earned from Washington in the wake of the ugly events 
that led to the war on Afghanistan in 2001. The now open Indian 
attempts to link up the action against Iraq with strategies in 
Kashmir are clearly dangerous ones for Pakistan. Persons with as much 
influence on Indian foreign policy as Mr J.N. Dixit, a former foreign 
secretary and ambassador to Pakistan, have openly advocated what they 
term 'limited' strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir in 
pursuit of militants.

An increased number of Indians, according to a recent opinion poll 
within the country, see American action against terrorism as a 
precedent for similar initiatives by India in the region. They 
believe too that the US would intervene to ensure nuclear weapons 
were not used in the case of such a conflict between the two nuclear 
powers in the subcontinent.

The growing rumble of such rhetoric clearly sends out alarming 
signals to Pakistan, with tension between the two countries 
heightened over the Kashmir issue as a result of the recent massacre 
of 24 Hindus. It is easy to see how quickly a conflict further away 
can have far more ominous repercussions closer to home, at a time 
when there is growing evidence that other nations around the world 
may choose to follow the perilous examples of invasion and conquest 
set by the US.

=46or the present, Pakistan's government continues to avoid openly 
condemning the war -- even if the daily televised images of civilian 
casualties, wide-scale destruction and a human rights catastrophe 
inside Iraq mean that the gulf between government and people on all 
sides of the ideological divide continues to open up further. Only by 
standing for principle, rather than pragmatism, can this gap be 
bridged and the possibility of a longer-term domestic fall-out from 
greater loss of public trust averted.

A failure to follow the path of principle and a decision to instead 
continue along the 'middle road' leaves open several important 
questions. While such a strategy would inevitably lead to further 
erosion of public support for the government, there is no guarantee 
that it will bring future American benevolence, especially in the 
event of increased conflict with India over Kashmir. Recent 
statements from Washington suggest that New Delhi, seen as the more 
powerful country in the region and as such a more valuable ally, has 
been getting its 'pay off' for its own policies. This comes in the 
form of statements, more vociferous than at any time since the strike 
on Afghanistan, condemning terrorism and countries harbouring 
terrorists.

It is quite clear that at least some of the remarks directly target 
Pakistan. This, combined with published reports suggesting that key 
US agencies and influential think tanks seem to believe the 
socio-economic and policy environment in Pakistan and Sudan is the 
most conducive to breeding terrorists, and discussing the possibility 
of a future attack on these nations, does not augur particularly well 
either for future relations with the US.

If present policies are moulded by the looming shadow of fear the US 
casts over the world, it is clear too an answer must be found to this 
potent threat. This can come only with the building of regional 
alliances, able to more effectively counter Washington's dictates and 
policies aimed at patching over differences that exist to open the 
way for greater negotiation, cooperation and understanding in the 
future.

Sadly, it would seem that so far neither India nor Pakistan is 
willing to steer their foreign policy towards such lines of thinking. 
And until that happens, it would appear both nations may see a 
continued need to pursue the 'pragmatism' that currently dictates 
external affairs strategies and continue their course down a 'middle 
road' that they may eventually find leads to nothing more than a 
dead-end.


______


#2.

The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
April 06, 2003

Iraq war fallout
Islamist parties eye common platform

Nazrul Islam

With the commencement of Iraq war, fragmented Islamist organisations 
greatly increased their activities in Dhaka and they have called upon 
each other to unite under a common platform against the non-Islamic 
Western forces.

"We are hopeful about formation of the new platform, narrowing the 
existing gap among the Islamic organisations," Mufti Fazlul Haq 
Amini, an MP of the ruling coalition and leader of the Islami Oikya 
Jote, told The Daily Star.

He said the Khatib of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, Moulna Obaidul 
Haq, has been requested to initiate the move to form United Islamic 
=46ront. Moulana Nurul Islam of Ahle Hadith Andolon made the request to 
the Khatib recently.

Obaidul Haq, when contacted on Thursday night, said he would consult 
his colleagues and discuss the issue at a National Shariah Council 
meeting on April 7. "I'm still thinking about the method of 
unification of Islamist parties," he said.

Over six dozen Islamic organisations exist in Bangladesh, a few are 
in the ruling coalition. According to their respective constitutions, 
the aim of all these parties is to establish Shariah law in 
Bangladesh. Capitalising on the anti-war sentiment in the country, 
these parties have become active and are gaining a new legitimacy and 
public support.

After formation of the proposed front, it would announce fresh 
programmes, according to insiders of the Islamist parties.

The organisations which are active at the moment include 
Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Ahle Hadith Andolon, Khelafat Andolon, 
Hizb-ut-Tahrir Bangladesh, Islami Biplobi Manch, Hezbul Mujahideen, 
Islami Shasantantra Andolon, Khelafat Majlish, Jamiat-e-Bangladesh, 
Koran Majid Bangladesh, Bangladesh Islamic Party, Jatiya Imam Samaj, 
Islami Buddhijibi Front, Islami Ain Bastabayan Committee, Ittehadul 
Olama, Al- Hikma, Jagroto Tauhidi Janata, Bangladesh Ummah Parishad, 
Qaomi Foundation, Sanee Resalat, Islamic Party, Muslim Jubo Sangha, 
Jamiah Islamia, Islami Ummah Corporation Ltd., Islami Chhatra Shibir, 
Chhatra Shakti and Sammilito Islami Sangram Parishad.

It is learnt through Internet that most of these organisations are 
linked with their international chapters located mostly in the Middle 
East, Europe, Pakistan, Indonesia, India and Central Asia, and work 
worldwide in the same direction to establish Islam.

Of these organisations, some believe in steady social change through 
intellectual persuasion while many others, patronised by 
international groups, believe in Islamic revolution through political 
conflict. Some of them even believe in armed conflict to achieve 
their aims. Some others want to promote their cause through sharing 
sate power and using it to consolidate their position.

Meanwhile, these Islamist groups have announced programmes like 
stoppage of export-import trade with the western countries like the 
US and Britain, branding them as enemies of Islam.

Some parties have announced boycott of 'Jewish commodities' in 
Bangladesh and threatened to launch search parties comprising 
activists of their student and youth fronts to seize western goods 
from shops and markets.

Analysts say taking advantage of the war, many religious groups, 
including some extremist ones with strong international connections, 
are organising themselves to establish Islamic laws and to fight 
against the West and their local cronies.

People in general in Bangladesh have been expressing their rising 
opposition to the US and the UK-led unjust war against Iraq. They 
have hung effigies of George W. Bush and Tony Blair, the two 
masterminds of the war, at various city points to show their anger 
against them.

The long running consequences of the war in Iraq would be the rise in 
public support for Islamic organisations. Analysts predict that 
Islamic militancy will rise and demands for greater islamisation will 
become widespread.

Professor Sirajul Islam Chowdhury of Dhaka University sees the 
anti-war protest as protest worldwide against capitalism and 
imperialism, mostly in two forms -- democratic and religious.

In Bangladesh, he said, the democratic groups, particularly the 
ruling and the main opposition parties, have failed to mobilise the 
protest, ceding the field for whatever reason to the religious 
groups. And these elements are visible now. Chowdhury, however, does 
not believe a fundamentalist upsurge might take place in the country 
since the people are fundamentally secular.

Rokeya Kabir of Bangladesh Nari Progoti Sangha observed that the 
programmes the Islamic organisations have taken up are mostly in the 
name of Muslim Ummah, without exposing the actual reason, which is 
garbbing of Iraqi oil by the US.

"Islamist fundamentalists are taking benefit of the Iraq war and 
trying to unite to implement their party agenda," she said.

______


#3.

The News International (Pakistan)
  April 06, 2003

America and the world

Dr Farrukh Saleem

America's interest in Pakistan has to be transitory in nature. We are 
resourceless, Osama being our only human capital. Other than our 
nurseries churning out jihadis by the truckloads we produce nothing 
that could be of interest to America. We possess little -- apart from 
our make-believe dragons of self importance -- that could be of 
permanent interest to America. Our other self-bestowed titles are 
that of being a 'doorway to Central Asia' and the 'frontline state'. 
We manufacture nothing that can be of value to Boeing, Exxon-Mobil, 
Chevron- Texaco, General Motors, Ford, General Electric, Procter & 
Gamble, Walt Disney, Caterpillar, RJR Nabisco or Philip Morris.

American foreign policy, unlike our own foreign policy, is a mere 
instrument to fulfil American needs; America's need for oil and 
America's need to grow through trade. Understanding American foreign 
policy means understanding the role of oil in the American economy 
and, secondly, making sense out of America's direction of trade.

America has 4.5% of humanity. A total of 280 million Americans 
consume 25% of world oil production. A country with total proven oil 
reserves of 22 billion barrels consuming 20 million barrels a day (3 
years worth of supply). In order to continue to grow, the US needs 
Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Iran and Venezuela (six largest 
proven oil reserves). For these countries to have democratic 
governments would mean that the respective governments would have to 
look after the interests of their own constituents prior to paying 
attention to American interests. Almost by definition, democracy in 
oil producing countries is, therefore, not in the greater American 
national interest.

The next issue is that of America's direction of trade. America's 
major trading partners are Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, UK, South 
Korea, Taiwan, France and Italy. History is a witness that democracy 
promotes economic growth and human development. Democracy does that 
via freer bilateral trade. America grows through trade and promoting 
democracy among America's major trading partners thus becomes 
America's own interest.

Where do India and Pakistan figure into all of this? India has a 
billion people. Microsoft, Avon, AT&T, Caterpillar India, Ford India, 
GE India, General Motors India, JP Morgan Chase, Kellogg India, 
Lockheed Martin, Procter & Gamble, Raytheon, Warner Bros, 
Chevron-Texaco and Exxon-Mobil all think that a good 25% out of a 
billion Indians either are or can be potential consumers of their 
products.

Here's what Tata, Insfosys, Wipro, Satyam, Silverline and MindTree 
(all Indian software giants) have on offer: Young, English-speaking, 
low-wage, tech-savvy and an eager labour force. Indians do inventory 
control, accounting, payroll, credit card approvals and account 
receivables for American Express, GE, Nortel, Lucent, Cisco, Apple, 
Reebok and many many others. Book a car at Avis and the agent is in 
India. Any problem with your Dell computer and the helper you talk to 
over the phone is in India. Loose your luggage while flying American 
skies and the tracker is in India. Any problem with your GE 
refrigerator and the helper is in India. Most Americans don't know 
but a lot of their tax work is done in India.

Heinz grows tomatoes in Karnataka and sells ketchup across India. 
General Motors produces Opel Astra and Opel Corsa at its Halol Plant 
(40 km north of Vadodara in Gujarat). Ford India Limited produces 
=46ord Ikon, Mondeo and Ghia at Maraimalai Nagar, 45 km from Chennai 
(Ford models fall in the 'luxury segment' and range from Rs400,000 to 
Rs800,000). Microsoft India seems to be everywhere; Delhi, Bangalore, 
Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

America is becoming dependent on India and India on American dollars. 
Indian democracy promotes economic growth and human capital 
development. America can trade with India and grow. Indian democracy 
is, therefore, just fine with America.

Pakistan is a different ballgame altogether. If we had oil then oil 
plus our bomb plus an unstable leadership would have made us a target 
even before Iraq. Our armed forces -- and our mullahs who somehow saw 
a common threat in Communism -- were partners with America in her war 
against Communism. With Communism gone the partnership ended. Then 
came Osama. With our entire stock of killing machines under threat, 
we abandoned Osama and embarked on a new tactical joint venture. The 
new partnership is bound to be transitory because we have nothing 
positive to contribute to the American way of life.

What happens when the objectives of the new joint venture are behind 
us? We could buy more time by jumping back on to the American 
bandwagon and agreeing to disarm. What happens when disarmament is 
behind us? We don't have oil so America could elect to leave us to 
our own devices or play an interventionist's role. The choice in 
Pakistan is between the khakis, the mullahs or mainstream 
representatives of the civil society.

=46or our mullahs and khakis jihad has long been a joint enterprise. 
Its only after their October election victories that our religious 
parties are now trying to become a political force in their own right 
(they have long been a mere tool in the hands of the khakis). The 
mullahs play politics of religion (which is extremely divisive). The 
khakis use the religious parties to undermine the mainstream, 
moderate political opposition. The khakis are now partners both with 
the Americans and the mullahs. The double game has 'danger' written 
all over it.

The outcome of the military operation in Iraq is not an uncertainty. 
Some time after neutralizing the dragons of Baghdad a recharged 
Rumsfeld looking at Pakistan (probably in his spare time) is going to 
see pro-Western liberals in retreat. Wolfowitz, his assistant, is 
going to notice Pakistan's mainstream political enterprise in decline.

=46our questions continue to agitate my mind. First, how is Pakistani 
leadership going to be reshaped to suit America's trading and other 
interests? Second, will Bush remain indifferent to the nature of 
regimes in the Middle East and beyond? Third, is the battle of 
Baghdad an end in itself or just the beginning of a new doctrine? 
=46ourth, which Pakistani leadership can help provide stability in the 
region?

_____


#4.

HindustanTimes.com, April 4, 2003

March of folly
Praful Bidwai

It is typical of the cynical tone of what passes off for 'strategic 
discourse' in India that there is little discussion in it of the 
profound immorality, illegality and irrationality of the war of 
aggression on Iraq, or its colossally tragic human consequences.

Within that discourse, morality is for the effeminate, weak-hearted, 
lily-livered - just as, domestically, all talk of human rights is a 
mere diversion from the 'real' agenda of combating terrorism.

If that sounds gross after Iraq's civilian death toll of 600-700, and 
especially after this week's butchery at Najaf and Nasiriyah, 
consider the content of the three things that some of our 'experts' 
told us. First, the war's ethics and legality shouldn't concern India 
- unlike the 'realities of power'; it's best to be on the winning 
side. Iraq may not have deliverable weapons of mass destruction 
(WMD); even if it did, inspections would probably have removed them 
more effectively and cheaply than war. But, as Atal Bihari Vajpayee 
said, India must "balance" its position: "Whatever the rights and 
wrongs" of the situation, India's relations with "other nations" 
(read, the US and Britain) shouldn't be "defined by a single issue". 
In other words, once America decides to go to war, it's silly to take 
a principled stand.

Second, America would win the war hands down. 'Shock-and-awe' would 
instantly break the Iraqi forces' will to fight. As Dick Cheney put 
it on March 18: "Significant elements of the Republican Guard" would 
simply "avoid conflict" with American forces. Some Indian 'experts' 
even said everything would be wrapped up "within a few days". Some 
fantasised about how the attack would begin on a moonless night, 
'decapitating' the Saddam leadership, crippling military 
telecommunications, and leaving Iraq defenceless. None of this 
happened.

Third, purely military manoeuvres, not politics and public 
perceptions, would fully determine the war's outcome. Civilian 
casualties would be negligible owing to 'humane' 'fourth-generation' 
weaponry. In any case, perceptions can be manufactured and 'managed' 
through 750 'embedded' reporters. No resistance to a lightning US 
victory is possible.

Events have belied each of these predictions, just as they derailed 
US war plans. It now transpires that these plans were based on flawed 
assumptions, bad intelligence and technocratic hubris. Rumsfeld & Co 
forgot about Iraq's people and their amazing determination to repulse 
their country's invasion.

Growing popular and militia resistance to the Anglo-American 
coalition means the war probably won't end in days. Baghdad will 
confront the war coalition with infinitely tougher challenges - urban 
warfare, close-quarter or street fights, fidayeen ambushes - than the 
fighting around southern cities did. This will take a huge civilian 
toll as well as coalition casualties. That will affect popular 
perceptions and shape military options.

The US will win the military battles. But it could lose the larger 
political war. Its political objectives are already compromised, as 
is Anglo-American credibility. That's where global public opinion, 
the 'second superpower', comes in. To it, doing the 'right' thing 
matters, not the 'easy' thing.

So, even 'realistically', New Delhi may have misjudged just who's the 
likely victor! Its blurred vision has certainly detached the national 
interest from principle. That's why our 'strategic community' bleats 
about how India must emulate the US and settle scores with Pakistan - 
militarily.

And now, Prime Minister Vajpayee has added a particularly narrow, 
parochial angle to the Iraq policy by telling NDA leaders last Sunday 
that the "Kashmir issue" has prevented the government from "coming 
out more strongly" against the US war on Iraq. Never have we so 
diminished India's broad foreign policy horizons to such a 
self-pitying window. Even the decade-long disorientation produced by 
the Cold War's end didn't generate such a shrunken self-perception.

Yet, clearly, this war isn't just about Iraq, Saddam or WMD. It's 
about redrawing the Middle East's political map, controlling global 
energy resources, maintaining the pro-US bias in international 
financial flows and trade balances and, above all, establishing world 
hegemony on a scale never before seen - by rewriting the rules of 
international relations altogether! Resisting such a war for Empire 
will create opportunities and expand spaces that promote a just, 
equitable and peaceful global order where might isn't right.

India's people, like the world's public, have a major stake in such a 
better world. But this war will make the world much worse: by 
'normalising' brute force, discrediting tolerance and negotiation, 
promoting the view that fear and terror can alone suppress terror - 
thus legitimising terrorism itself. No less than President Hosni 
Mubarak of Egypt, a close US ally, warns that the Iraq war will 
create "100 new Osama bin Ladens... [T]his war will have horrible 
consequences".

Surely, having a hundred Bin Ladens, some of them in our 
neighbourhood, cannot help India's Kashmir policy, whatever that 
might be. Surely, we cannot be so myopic as to supplant sound foreign 
policy doctrines by antipathy towards our neighbours. Surely, our 
embrace of nuclear weapons shouldn't degrade us morally so low as to 
make us forget that WMD disarmament remains a worthy global goal, but 
one that the war coalition contemptuously rejects, even though it 
hypocritically wants to disarm Iraq of WMD!

Those who speak of 'the national interest' after severing it from 
universal principles and moral balance should read historian Barbara 
Tuchman: "A phenomenon noticeable throughout history... is the 
pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests... 
Wooden-headedness, the source of self-deception, is a factor that 
plays a remarkably large role... It consists in assessing a situation 
in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting 
any contrary signs..." (The March of Folly)

Are we bent upon this march?

_____


#5.

URLs :   War on Iraq: Opinions

- American Innumeracy and the War: Learning to Count the Dead
by Romi Mahajan [April 5, 2003]
http://www.counterpunch.org/mahajan04052003.html

- The Lethal Logic of Barbarians: There Are No More Arguments
by Vijay Prashad  [April 4, 2003]
http://www.counterpunch.org/prashad04042003.html

- A Strategy To Stop The War
by Rohini Hensman [April 3, 2003]
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/iraq/RHensman042003.html

- Brutal imperialism in the name of democracy
by Aseem Srivastava [April 3, 2003]
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/iraq/Aseem042003.html

- A Looming Monetary Collision: Oil, the dollar and the euro
A briefing paper on the global economy by
Arjun Makhijani   [19 March 2003]
http://www.ieer.org/comments/econ/oil$euro.pdf

_____


#6.

Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2003

I AM A WOMAN
Bina Srinivasan

I am a woman.
I belong to no nation (I wish).
I belong to the whole world (I wish).
I belong to no identity (I wish).
(I wish) that all identities are mine.

The tragic victory of death over life.  Drip. Drip.Drip.
One teardrop after another after another.  It screeches into my disgrace.

The colour of my skin clings to my face.  The shape of my nose crafts itself
into a caste.

It spells the difference between life and death.

These are no longer mere words.  Life. Death.
These are realities we live with as we breathe through our black, white,
brown and yellow skins.

Yet my mind is a crawling mass of words.
Words like kill.  Like weapons.  War. Peace. Minefields.
=46ood packets (wine bottles, anybody?).
Bodies (video games, anybody?)

World imagination captured in monosyllables.
Bereft.  It is an imagination bereft.

I cling to the meaning of words.  You know what bereft means, for example?

I know.

I hate rhetoric, said a friend of mine recently.
Sure, so do I.  But in a world where language scampers around trying to find
meaning, where life flounders on its way to continuity, rhetoric and
dangerous action merge together.

Creating ripples of incomprehension.

>From one war into another.
I am a Gujarati-South Indian-Hindu-Indian in the US at this moment.

Who will accept me for my own definitions?

I am a woman. Period.
True or false?
=46alse.
I am a Gujarati-South Indian-Indian.
True or false?
=46alse again.

Where does one go from here? No place.
Except if I buy up an island and shift all my friends and family and live
there happily ever after.

I see Gujarat everywhere.  I see Iraq everywhere.
Words congeal into images.  Blood flows from one vein into another. Spilling
onto the streets, worldwide.

More evil than evil can be.

Hindu.  Muslim. Iraqi.  American.  White. Black.  Who are they anyway?  One
person or thousands of them?
Men. Women. Children.
Who defines? Who chooses? Who lives through it all?
Can I choose plethora against monolith?
Can I choose one against the other?

Men. Women. Children.
That is what it boils down to.
If you discount the environment.  That living, breathing shield we creep
into for survival every night.

One against the other.

Yes, I am capable of more coherent speech.  I know how to shape words to
make a meaning.

Only, meaning eludes me in a world so torn apart.
One against the other.

Nations. Religions.
Men. Women. Children.

Words as tears.  How I long to be numb to words as well as tears.

I have nothing easy to say.
Nothing painless to feel.
Nothing wordless to word.

I need a wordless sleep, a womb to capture me as I float through the pain of
the world at this moment.

I need a cigarette to sleep.


_____


#7.

The Hindu / Literary Review
Sunday, Mar 02, 2003

A book for our times

Writers have always played an important role in strengthening civil 
society, and for that reason alone Bruised Memories is significant 
says ANTARA DEV SEN.

I am an old fashioned sort, I say
the fire's place is in the stove
or in the earthen lamp in an alcove
or in a lantern...

YOU tend to agree with Gujarati poet Dileep Jhaveri there. These 
lines, from one of his "Khandit Kand Poems" (translated competently 
by Ranjit Hoskot=E9 and the author) included in this volume, go on to 
lament how the Fire God has wandered and now "runs naked down the 
avenues, screaming." And no, this is not about Gujarat today, these 
poems were a response to the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and the 
subsequent riots, a decade ago.

That, precisely, is the scary part. Bruised Memories offers a 
selection of poems, stories and articles on sectarian violence that 
all seem to be screaming out against the current trauma of our land 
and people - but in actual fact reflect times long past. From the 
pre-Independence Hindu-Muslim riots, these writings wind their way 
through the violence following Partition in 1947, following Indira 
Gandhi's assassination in 1984, following the Babri Masjid demolition 
in 1992. We have, of course, been killing, burning, slashing, raping, 
demeaning each other in the name of religion for decades. That's 
certainly not new, as our Defence Minister had so sensitively pointed 
out in Parliament in the wake of the horrifying events in Gujarat. 
But in the backdrop of that carnage today, these writings seem to 
leap out of the past and hit you between the eyes. In spite of all 
the lessons of the past, we have gone and done it again.

Which is why an anthology like Bruised Memories is important. It 
helps us understand how we have been fighting our demons of 
sectarianism for decades, and how often we manage to snatch defeat 
from the jaws of victory.

=46or, when we cringe in shock at the carnage in Gujarat, we can see 
the inhuman politicisation of religion or the bankruptcy of the 
administration, but we don't always identify the central weapon of 
destruction. The core strength of those who can engineer such a 
genocide lies not in their knives and guns, or even their hotline to 
political power, but in their ability to manipulate civil society. 
And this power of manipulation can be put to all kinds of use.

If exclusivist interpretations of sacred texts, history and present 
realities have the power to change civil society, so do more 
sympathetic and inclusive takes on fellowship and human bonding. As 
Vijay Dan Detha says in the excellent story "Roznamcha" (translated 
expertly by Tarun K. Saint): "A man may recover from snakebite, but 
someone taken hold of by an idea is unlikely to remain unscathed." 
It's about this man who calls himself "Pannalal Hindu" and is "first 
a Hindu, then a human being." A masterly piece of writing, the story 
has no bloodshed, no overt violence and depends solely on the power 
of a familiar event, the kind of conversation we have every day, and 
magical storytelling, to bring out the inhumanity with which the 
privileged exploit the underprivileged - charged by religious or 
economic power. And how pathetic they seem, as they trample on others 
to cheat their way to narrow gains, in comparison to their victims, 
who refuse to have their spirit broken, whose desperation to survive 
the assaults of poverty, disease, hunger and fellow humans makes them 
all the more determined to succeed as human beings.

Among the other memorable pieces - whether article, story or poem - 
are those by Bhishm Sahni, Mahasweta Devi, Amitav Ghosh, Ashis Nandy, 
Nabaneeta Dev Sen, K. Satchidanandan, Dileep Jhaveri and 
Hussain-ul-Haque. There is also an interesting panel discussion on 
"Notions of Communality and Communalism in the Imagination" which, in 
the manner of most panel discussions that make it into print, seems 
to leave the serious reader with more questions than answers.

However, in today's India, it is important to have such discussions, 
if only to keep us thinking about the subject. Because, the only way 
to contain the murderous religious majoritarianism that threatens to 
tear us apart is to strengthen civil society as a whole. Writers have 
always played an important role in that process, which is 
indispensable in the effort to stop the slow erosion of the 
democratic, pluralistic fabric of India. So, even though the 
translation is uneven, and quite a few of the contributions (which 
have been reprinted from other publications) may be familiar to the 
reader, Bruised Memories is a significant book for our times.

Bruised Memories: Communal Violence and the Writer, edited and 
introduced by Tarun K. Saint, Seagull Books, Calcutta, 2002, 
p.193,<243>

Rs. 475.

Antara Dev Sen is Editor, The Little Magazine.

_____


#8.

The Deccan Herald
Saturday, April 5, 2003
IN PERSPECTIVE

Ghastly tragedy

By Khushwant Singh

While a bloody war raged in the Middle East and we were still in the 
throes of cricket hysteria, a tragedy which occurred in our own 
forecourt was swept under the carpet of oblivion. Who in his senses 
would want to slaughter Kashmiri Pandits who are generally 
acknowledged as the handsomest, the most gifted and peace-loving 
section of our society? I have done my best to discover their 
identity and their motives. Though normally not a violent person, I 
would like to see them strung alive. Waves of impotent rage and 
anguish flooded over me: I was like a blind man groping for a clue in 
a dark room. However, on one point I am quite clear: I do not accept 
the verdict of our Government whether it is delivered by the Deputy 
Prime Minister or any official. We have good reasons to distrust what 
they say. 

Some years ago when the massacre of Sikhs took place at 
Chittisinghpura they said the same kind of thing, shot four men they 
alleged to be the killers and the matter ended. Sometime later Farooq 
Abdullah, then chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir flatly 
contradicted the official version. Nothing followed. Victims of the 
Chittisinghpura have been forgotten. Much the same kind of thing is 
happening now. Accusing Pakistan has become a knee-jerk reaction. And 
because of the general Pak-phobia that has been created, everyone is 
willing to believe the worst about Pakistan. If Mr Advani or any of 
his minions have concrete evidence of Pakistani involvement in this 
ghastly blood-letting, they owe it to their countrymen to tell them 
about it. They have not done so. 

Nor do I expect will we ever know who or why anyone committed this 
insane crime against an innocent, harmless community. Conjectures and 
inferences are not good enough. Nor is proving one's patriotism by 
constantly adop-ting anti-Pakistan postures.

_____


#9.

Khaleej Times, 25 July 2002
http://www.khaleejtimes.co.ae/ktarchive/250702/subcont.htm

Kerala govt prosecution bid raises controversy
=46rom T.K. Devasia

TRIVANDRUM - The Kerala government's move to prosecute rationalist 
leader Sreeni Pattathanam for making 'objectionable' references on 
Mata Amrithanandamayi, considered by large number of people as a 
spiritual leader, has kicked off controversy.

Writers and cultural leaders have come out against the move by 
terming it an infringement of the rights of a citizen guaranteed by 
the Constitution to pursue scientific path.

The government initiated the move on the basis of a complaint filed 
by advocate T.K. Ajan, who is claimed to be a devotee of Matha 
Amrithanandamayi.

He sought permission to prosecute the author, publisher P.S. Kumar 
and printer S. Saji, under various sections of Indian Penal Code and 
Cr. P.C.

The principal home secretary has forwarded the complaint to Quilon 
district superintendent of police for further action. He has to 
register a case and appoint an officer not below the rank of an 
inspector for preliminary investigation to get the permission.

Devotees are angry with the author, because he has sought to question 
the godliness in Mata Amrithanandmayi. Mr Ajan, who is attached to 
her 'ashram' at Amritapuri near Karunagapally in Quilon district, has 
termed many references in the book defamatory to Mata 
Amrithanandamayi and insulting for her devotees.

Hailing from a poor fisherman's family at Vallikavu in Quilon 
district, Mata Amrithanandamayi is mother to millions of her devotees 
in India and abroad. They have helped her build many institutions in 
education and health sectors, besides branches of her ashram in most 
parts of the world.

She is currently planning to set up a holistic village in Kerala in 
collaboration with the Kerala State Industrial Development 
Corporation, a government agency. Cultural leaders and writers feel 
that the government machinery has been moving fast against the 
rationalist leader because of its business interests and close ties 
some ministers have with her.

"Since certain ruling politicians, both at the federal and state 
governments, are known devotees of the mata, we have reasons to doubt 
that there is a sinister and malicious conspiracy behind the move to 
prosecute Mr Sreeni Pattathanam," a joint statement by a group of 
writers and social activists said.

The signatories to the statement, including Paul Zacharia, Pazhavila 
Ramesan, Mukundan C. Menon Dr M.S. Jayaprakash, Prof. K.M. Bahauddin, 
Dr P. Muraleedharan and Dr. Abdul Salam, noted that the move was a 
violation of the Constitution, which calls on the citizens to spread 
the message of rational thinking within the society and to oppose the 
irrational beliefs so as to prevent taking the present society back 
to medieval ages.

They have pointed out that the entire edifice of godliness was built 
around her by vested interests and have urged the government to 
desist from its 'vindictive move' against Mr Sreeni Pattathanam.

The book, entitled Mata Amrithanandamayi: Sacred Stories and 
Realities, is a research work containing elaborate references of 
court records, newspaper/magazine reports and quotations from famous 
literary figures, besides an interview with Mata Amritanandamayi and 
statements of her close relatives, including her uncle.

Mr Sreeni Pattathanam told Khaleej Times that he was surprised by the 
move to prosecute him. "If the charges contained in my book are 
baselss, the devotees could have published a rejoinder. They have 
published malicious reports against rationalists in their 
publications. We have not approached the police, but have refuted 
them through our publications", he added.

o o o

The IHEU web site (www.iheu.org) proposes A Model Letter in support 
of Sreeni Pattathanam:

Mr. A.K. Anthony
The Chief Minister of Kerala State
Government Secretariat
Thiruvananthapuram 695 001
Kerala
India

Dear Chief Minister Anthony,

I am writing to protest the harassment Rationalist leader Mr. Sreeni 
Pattathanam is being subjected to in your state, because of his book 
Matha Amruthandamayi - Divya Kadhakalum Yatharthiavum (Matha 
Amrithanandamayi: Sacred Stories and Realities, Mass Publications, 
revised edition) exposing the alleged wrong doings of Mata 
Amritanandamayi.

I am aware of your own personal devotion to Mata Amrithanandamayi; 
however, I am alarmed that as Chief Minister as well as home minister 
incharge of police and security, instead of examining the evidence 
produced in the book and launching an inquiry into the Aaashram 
activities, you have chosen to initiate moves to prosecute Mr. Sreeni 
Patthathanam on the grounds that his book has hurt the religious 
sentiments of people, following a complaint by one Mr. Ajan. The 
Mata's organisation is registered as a social organisation and not as 
a religious organisation. How can criticism of a social organisation 
and the doings of those associated with it cause hurt to religious 
sentiments? In any case, religious leaders cannot be immune from the 
attentions of the criminal justice system.

I call on you to uphold the principles of secular democracy, to 
uphold the rule of law, and to protect Mr. Pattathanam's freedom of 
expression and belief and its lawful exercise.

In these troubles times in India where intolerance is on the rise, 
the international community is watching you and looking to you to 
uphold democratic principles

Yours sincerely,  

Please send similar letters to:

1). Chief Minister of Kerala: Fax: 91-0471-2333489
cmkerala@vsnl.net and chiefminister@kerala.gov.in

2). Governor of Kerala: Fax + 91 -471-2720266

3). Director General of Police, Kerala: Fax: + 91 - 471 - 2726560
Email: dgp@scrb.com

4). Principal Secretary Home (Police) Fax: + 91 - 471 - 2327582
Email: prisecy@home.kerala.gov.in 


_____


#10.

Deccan Herald, April 6, 2003

Digging deep for truth

In the wake of excavations at the Ramjanmabhoomi in Ayodhya, Sankar 
Ray highlights the need for a deep archaeological probe as a 
scientific examination of historical controversies
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr06/at4.asp

_____


#11.

Dear all,

You are all invited to:

Vasantrao Khanolkar Memorial Lecture : Bharatiya Jantantra Kis Aur ?

to be delivered by Magsaysay Awardee , Ms. Aruna Roy

to be held on 8-4-2003 at 6.30 p.m. in

Mumbai Marathi Granth Sanghrahalaya,
Near Dadar Fire Brigade , Sharda Talkies,Naigaon, Dadar East, Mumbai -14

The lecture has been jointly organised by the Chemical Mazdoor Sabha 
, Hind Mazdoor Sabha , Rajyasarkari Karmchari Madhyamvarti Sanghatana 
and National Alliance of People's Movements and will be chaired by 
Shri R.G. Karnik.


_____


#12.

Bitter threads began to unravel before me
as I went into alleys and in open markets
saw bodies plastered with ash, bathed in blood...
The sky waits for this spell to be broken,
for History to tear itself from this net...
-Faiz Ahmed Faiz, translated by Agha Shahid Ali

Women In Motion
presents

DANCING FROM SHADOWS

new works by ANANYA CHATTERJEA

and a collaboration with Thomas De Frantz and Akili Jamal Haynes

APRIL 12, 8PM
APRIL 13, 7PM
INTERMEDIA ARTS
2822 Lyndale Ave S., Minneapolis
$12; $10 for students
=46or reservations after April 7th, call 612-871-4444
=46or enquiries or reservations before April 7th, call 612-626-2280

Women Of Lost Homes. Inspired by the struggles of women across the world
whose children have "disappeared" due to political violence, this piece
was specifically sparked off by the work of Parveena Ahangar, president
of the Missing Persons Association in Kashmir. This piece is a critique
of the state-sponsored violence seen in the phenomenon of "disappearance"
where families are suspended in a-waiting-for-hope, never knowing what
actually happened to their loved ones. The piece is imagined through the
consciousness of a woman who, finding pictures of her disappeared child,
tries desperately to bury these memories. The searing pain, as she
oscillates relentlessly between hopefulness and hopelessness, between
mad fury and tearful longing for her child, drives her to near insanity.
The piece draws on the practice of ritual mourning of the rudaali, and
works through the idea of a typical fury in the curse of a woman who has
lost everything. It is danced to the poetry of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, who
articulates beautifully the death of hope:

On this day, all over earth, the doors of beneficent deeds are bolted
All gates of prayer throughout heaven are slammed shut.

Making Rain. Taking off from the recent disasters in Gujarat, this piece
begins with hopelessness at the scale of destruction, violence, and
dehumanization. Is there anywhere to turn where the ground is not soaked
with blood and ruins? Yet, working through a sense of personal
accountability, the piece reaches towards hope in a situation that
initially seemed unredeemable. Making Rain emphasizes that begging the
heavens for hope and a better life might yield some results, but
ultimately, peace and hope have to be labored for, and emerge from a
necessary process created and sustained through our commitment to it.
Danced to a Sufi song by Reshma, the piece works through lament, fury,
pleading, disappointment, and ultimately reaches towards the making of
hope, urging everyone to energize this journey. Importantly, the piece
is based on and inspired by the untiring work of women leaders in
anti-violence and peace movements.

Encounters. Collaboratively created and performed by Ananya Chatterjea
and Boston-based African American choreographer, Thomas DeFrantz, and
composer Akili Jamal Haynes, this work examines Africanist and South
Asian diasporic movements in terms of the political struggles that
immigrants endure. Natural elements of earth, water, air, and fire form
a structural backdrop for a work concerned with coalition building,
legacies of cultural traditions and stereotypes, and the potential of
human interaction to inspire social change. This unique piece, using
difference movement idioms to celebrate differences yet solidarity, has
just premiered in the US in December 2002 in Boston.

This performance is made possible with support from the New York
=46oundation for the Arts, an individual grant from the Minnesota State
Arts Board, the Women's Student Activist Collective, and an individual
fellowship from the Bush Foundation.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

SACW is an informal, independent & non-profit citizens wire service run by
South Asia Citizens Web (www.mnet.fr/aiindex).

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.