SACW | 13 May 03
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex@mnet.fr
Tue, 13 May 2003 01:48:40 +0100
South Asia Citizens Wire | 13 May, 2003
ALERT FOR ACTION: In Defence of the Indian Historian Romila Thapar
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/Alerts/IDRT300403.html
---------------
#1. Because Words Can Kill (Mukul Dube)
#2. Let the Army choose (M.B. Naqvi)
#3. Communalising Kerala (K.N. Panikkar)
#4. Chickens return to roost (AG Noorani)
#5. Right-wing's bovine back-up plan (Jawed Naqvi)
#6. Time Magazine on the cooling of tempers by India Pakistan
- Lay Down Your Guns: India and Pakistan are talking, but jihadis
could undo a fragile d=E9tente (Tim Mcgirk)
- India and Pakistan might have little choice but to compromise over
Kashmir (M.J. Akbar)
#7. Jihad.org (Alyssa Ayres)
#8. Public Meeting on Pak-India Relations: with Visiting Pakistani
MPs ( Bombay, May 13)
#9. USA / India: Bhopal Activists End Hunger Strike on 12th Day
[ Related] - Bhopal's long agony (Sara Olkon)
#10. Religious Extremism & Governance in South Asia: A briefing in
Washington (May 15)
--------------
#1.
Milli Gazette, 16-31 May 2003
Because Words Can Kill
Mukul Dube
When M.K. Gandhi was assassinated, official reaction was prompt and
it was brief. All that was said was that Gandhi had been shot and
that the assassin was a Hindu. The reason behind this course of
action was that Hindus would have immediately assumed that a Muslim
had fired the gun, and the one way to prevent a further bloodbath was
to tell them that the killer was one of themselves.
Under the Sangh Parivar dispensation, though, something entirely
different happens in such situations. Statements are made which are
calculated to inflame passions, not to calm. The bigoted Sanghis ever
lie in wait for terrible things to happen - because the more horrific
an event is, the easier it is to turn it to advantage by pointing
fingers and making insinuations. The Sangh Parivar's leaders are not
statesmen in any sense of the word, their actions are not those of
the leaders of a society, of a country. They start fires and stoke
them - they never seek to put out a fire or prevent it from starting.
They pursue only their sectarian agenda - country be damned.
How did these leaders, so-called, react to the carriage burning of
Godhra? There was no explicit denunciation, to be sure, no call to
lynch all Muslims in the country, or even all Muslims in Gujarat; but
it can hardly have been a coincidence that Advani intoned, in
Parliament, "I am in constant touch with the Gujarat chief minister
and am trying to find out who was behind the incident - if they were
only the local residents or there was any other angle to it"
(Rediff.Com, 28 February 2002).
After this clear gesture towards the west, no one - least of all the
rats who follow this malevolent Pied Piper - could have been in any
doubt that this man was only repeating what he had said so often:
that India's Muslims are really Pakistanis who act on the
instructions they get from Pakistan. "Muslim" and "terrorist" were
practically synonymous anyway, after the months of propaganda which
followed the 11 September attacks in the U.S.A.
And what did "in constant touch" mean, what did it do? The Chief
Minister in question did not warn the country's Home Minister of his
State's proneness to communal violence. And of course this
surpassingly irresponsible Home Minister did nothing about what he
must have known. The inevitable bandh was called by rabidly communal
elements - and the inevitable massacre followed. Not the slightest
attempt was made to prevent it: indeed, all observers have held that
it was officially encouraged and aided. That is to say, Modi and
Advani did know what was to happen, because it was their own people
who were to make it happen. No doubt Advani remained "in constant
touch with the Gujarat chief minister" - so that he might accurately
and promptly update the score cards on his wall and in his computer.
Let no one object that I am speaking of old matters. Murder is a
capital offence for which those guilty of it are ever liable to
punishment. Over two thousand Muslims lost their lives in Gujarat in
the Sangh's mayhem. This we must not forget. The murderers, rapists,
arsonists are still at large. They are guilty and we cannot rest
until they are caught and punished. Everyone knows who they are, but
Narendra Modi's administration shelters them by placing obstacles in
the way of justice. Lal Krishna Advani and Atal Behari Vajpayee,
preening in their put-on statesmen's act, pat Modi's back. This too
we must never forget.
Therefore we must keep reminding Amit Shah, Gujarat's Minister of
State for Home, that he said, on the floor of the Assembly in
Gandhinagar, that his government possessed evidence which proved
Pakistan's involvement in the Godhra carriage burning (Hindu, 14
March 2003). We must keep raising this matter until Shah either
serves up the "evidence" of which he speaks - or else admits that he
is talking through his hat or worse. The fellow must be made to
realise that he cannot go around bad-mouthing a neighbouring country
- and, worse, implying that his own citizens, whom he is pledged to
protect, are his enemies - just because the pestilential notion is
imbedded in his skull that he was born to wipe Muslims off the face
of the Earth.
Therefore we must keep reminding Lal Krishna Advani, Deputy Prime
Minister and Home Minister of India, that he said, more than once,
that "there appeared to be a terrorist-underworld nexus behind the
killing of former Gujarat minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader
Haren Pandya" (Rediff.Com, 27 March 2003). We must not let the matter
lie. If this man has lied, if he has spouted these words just to
pursue his Parivar's sectarian agenda, in the process urinating on
his responsibilities as Home Minister, he must be made to realise
that not even he may drop a noxious turd in public and then retire to
his dark corner to lick himself. He must admit why he said what he
did.
Some dismiss the statements that these "leaders" make, holding that
these people do not think before they speak. I disagree. I believe
that they think very carefully indeed over the words they utter. They
think very carefully about the effect that they want their words to
have, about the foul air that they want them to create. They spend
much time and effort in fabricating the untruths they emit, the
insinuations they make. They cannot be called irresponsible in an
absolute way: for are they not insanely devoted to their agenda of
injecting the poison of hatred into the bloodstream of India?
The one thing they do not have to think about is how they will deny
their lies later: for the reason that no one ever challenges these
lies. This cannot go on. The lies must be challenged, again and again.
I began with Gandhi's death and I shall end with that. In his
obituary published in the Pakistan Times on 31 January 1948, Mazhar
Ali Khan wrote, "The poor idiot or maniac who committed the crime was
certainly not the only man responsible. Who had fed his mind with
such fell hate for the weary old man seeking to purge men's hearts
with love? What nefarious potion made him flex his muscles to lay
violent hands on the apostle of non-violence? The answer is obvious.
Every man who has thought and felt and spoken and acted as Gandhiji's
assassin did, was his accomplice. Every violent word, deed, and
thought went into the composition of the mind that conceived of the
arm that executed the terrible deed."
Words kill, therefore lies must be challenged. Howsoever high and
mighty, the liar is no more than a miserable, skulking cur. I realise
that, in saying this, I grievously insult canines.
_____
#2.
May 12, 2003 | Karachi
Let the Army choose
By M.B. Naqvi
Taboos are breaking down, people have begun to express themselves in
print what they had earlier talked in drawing rooms or teashops. It
should be welcomed. The context includes ongoing excitement over
making it up with India as also the debate over LFO. The question is:
would Pakistan army and its propagandists permit normalisation and
free trade with India while Kashmir issue is put in cold storage
through a suitable political formula. Resolution of Kashmir issue is
anyhow a long haul affair? Would they?
The background and assumptions underlying this question are known. It
is now recognised that Pakistan Army has manipulated and frequently
directly ran the government. It has had a veto over important
decisions even during nominally democratic governments, especially
over national security matters. The definition of security matters
included all foreign policy decisions regarding India, US, China,
Afghanistan, etc.
This definition included something more basic: the socalled
democratic governments lived or died at the Army's pleasure. It would
be tiresome to recount all the instances of Army's manipulation of
nominal governments from its first indirect intervention in April
1953. The brutal fact is that locus of true power in Pakistan shifted
to the Army as an institution well before 1960s through successful
coups, including dismissals of all Prime Ministers. It is Pakistan's
distinction that no Prime Minister ever completed his normal term,
except Z.A. Bhutto who completed his first term but not the second
one. But then he was hanged. Not even a General went out of office by
his own volition --- not one of them; each was pushed out by the Army
itself.
Today three issues are fuelling the debate over Army's role: the
first is the India policy to be. The second is the explosive domestic
struggle over LFO. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the concurrent Army Chief
and the President of the Islamic Republic plans to retain total
control over what is done in Pakistan through LFO provisions. This
preempts democracy; it is a formula for an absolutist dictatorship. A
divided Opposition began rejecting the LFO. The COAS said nonsense; I
am here to remain; lump it. The outcome is still uncertain.
The third is the facts of the economy. Except for what foreigners
give Islamabad for services rendered in Afghanistan and for capturing
al-Qaeda fugitives, the country has been living on cash injections
and debt reschedulings, having given its economic policy-making in
hoc to IFIs. Pakistan economy incurs three deficits: in national
budgeting, trade and in balance of payments. New investments are few
and far between. Authority is waiting for Godot --- the elusive
foreign investments' flood. While hopes are high of 5 percent GDP
growth, unemployment and poverty are growing alarmingly. In terms of
the availability of social services, Pakistan belongs to the category
of Bhutan and the like.
Can this economy sustain such a big military establishment? Pakistan
could manage so far because the US armed forces now require foreign
mercenaries to do secondary jobs, the socalled 'bag carrying'
operations. The US pays cash on the barrel. But in the 'bag carrying'
department there is stiff competition and the wages are declining.
Can Pakistan sustain its military on merely expected receipts of
international bag carrying? Apart from the question of honour, can it
be relied upon, given the Army's liabilities: Kashmir Jihad, armies
of unemployed Islamic fanatics and the growing domestic confrontation
with opposition and as also with India.
Time has come to face facts. Army's domestic supremacy and its Army
Chief being a sort of Regent in waiting has gone on far too long. Its
price is the loss of national unity and integrity. Pakistanis were
never so divided. Even the bureaucracies at the Centre and in the
provinces are perpetually quarrelling. Provincialism has gown
dangerously. The glue that holds a nation together is the feeling of
being partners in decision-making. In short, without democracy ---
with no adjectives --- Pakistan's future is at risk. Actual
subordination of the military to whatever government there may be is
the primary need. But how does one make the Army's leaders, with
their self importance and arrogance, see this fact. Understandably
they are more concerned with the institutional or corporate interests
of the Army.
To maintain present establishment, they require a lot of money ---
they tend to takeover governments to make sure of that --- and an
emotive justification for maintaining their positions and perks.
Pakistan Ideology --- mostly denunciation and hatred of Hindus ---
and Kashmir Jihad serve that purpose. Which is why generals cultivate
and pay or promise propagandists and many politicians. In order to
sustain an unending confrontation with India --- the only
justification of keeping such a large establishment --- support from
the press and politicians is vital. That opens the door to political
takeovers and underhand manoeuvres.
Anyway, the Army now acts as a vested interest. It is the most
integrated group in society. Acting like a political party, it has
acquired a lot of power. Its major takeovers were preceded by a
concerted press campaign about how corruption and malpractices have
become intolerable and that the government of the day is unable to
curb it. Military's intelligence agencies being its political arm,
they keep a number of newsmen and columnists on their payroll,
especially in the Urdu press. That enables it to influence; indeed it
can create or exaggerate, a crisis. Exposing and, if possible,
neutralising this nefarious group is important.
What can be done? The usual political parties, having been
infiltrated and often bribed by agencies, may have lost the ability,
power and may be the will to control the generals and discipline
their agencies. At times it seems that these agencies are under no
one's control, not even of the generals, having become rogue states.
=46oreign governments directly deal with them.
The three issues discussed here are not separate; they are causally
linked. Due to the military's size, its requirements are big.
Pakistan economy, unaided, cannot sustain it, especially its foreign
exchange component. No prudent country can accept an obligation for
which there is no money. If foreign power foots such a bill, as the
US does, it is entitled to call the shots and indeed does so.
Pakistan's sovereignty has been seriously compromised.
The logical thing to do is to persuade or force the Army out of
politics. That is the only way democracy can be established. And
insofar as democracy remains partial or defective, the state of
Pakistan can scarcely remain united. The contrary is also true: if
the Army goes on calling all the shots, the future of national unity
and state's integrity will be dark. A large sized Army cannot
safeguard what Pakistanis may become reluctant to save because their
needs and wishes count for nothing.
A democratic government free of Generals' stranglehold can change
national priorities. The need is to revamp the economy's Development
Model not with a view to paying the unaffordable defence bill but to
accelerate both the growth of employment and primary consumption of
the poorest sections of society. Defence comes after the primary
requirements of the people --- their education and skills and
healthcare, not to mention the eradication of hunger --- are met.
These will need a lot of new resources that need to be generated from
the kind of development that is oriented to meeting human needs of a
growing population.
External threats, including from India, are largely fanciful. If
Pakistan had not adopted the militaristic approach of wresting
Kashmir by force --- by 1965-like war or the current Jihad --- the
present impasse would not have arisen. Jihad today is only killing
Kashmiris and India is able to absorb the negligible losses to its
Army. Given India's Hindutva orientation --- insofar as it is stable
--- it will need to invent a Pakistan, if the present one were not
there. Mad would be the Indian 'Hindu' to want another 150 million
Muslims in India.
A new Kashmir policy is needed that does not require guns going off
daily. It will enable this country to reduce the defence
establishment --- down to whatever may be needed to back up the
police and paramilitary forces for keeping law and order and
preventing smuggling and narcotics trade. That can release resources
to be divided between investments in infrastructure and for starting
an affordable social security for all.
But that domestically requires total rejection of the LFO by the
Parliament which should demonstratively assert its supremacy by
rejecting Army's dictation over policy-making on national security
issues themselves, let alone foreign, domestic and economic policies.
But, and this is a bigger but, who will bell the cat? Well, these
very politicians in this very doubt-raising Parliament. If they
cannot, well, let them reject the LFO without any agreement or
compromise and let the Army takeover again and run the country
directly. What happens later will be its responsibility. Ends
_____
#3.
The Hindu, May 13, 2003
http://www.thehindu.com/2003/05/13/stories/2003051301111000.htm
Communalising Kerala
By K.N. Panikkar
A transition from the communitarian to the communal has been taking
place, slowly but steadily.
ANOTHER BASTION is falling. Kerala known for its relatively
harmonious communal relations has lately witnessed quite a few
clashes between members of different communities. In Nadapuram,
Panur, Taikal and Pathanamthitta. The latest is in Marad, a coastal
village near Kozhikode, in which nine persons were brutally killed
and several injured on May 3. It was not a communal riot in the
generally accepted sense, in which the members of two communities
violently engage with each other, in most cases spontaneously, due to
some immediate provocation. In Marad, it was a sudden attack by a
group of people well armed and well organized who, if the police are
to be believed, carried out the operation in one sweep in less than
15 minutes.
Marad has fallen victim to communal fury for a second time. In
January last year the members of two communities had clashed, the
reason for which is not entirely known. It is believed that
inter-communal tension grew out of a New Year day function. Five
persons were killed, about 100 houses were destroyed and several
boats on fire. Many in the predominantly fishing community in the
village lost their means of livelihood. It aroused considerable
indignation and concern, especially among social activists and the
intelligentsia, who took several initiatives to bring about communal
harmony. The Government also intervened, particularly in the field of
rehabilitation. Yet, they did not have the desired effect, as evident
from the repetition of the brutality, which many believe has its
roots in the first incident. This is because the efforts to bring
about communal harmony did not address the basic issue, namely, the
communalisation of Kerala society, particularly after the demolition
of the Babri Masjid, an important marker in the social consciousness
of both the Muslim minority and the Hindu majority.
During the last couple of decades, the activity and influence of
communal formations have considerably increased in Kerala. According
to the data published by the Organiser in its issue of March 25,
2001, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh runs 4300 `shakas' and
`upasakhas' in Kerala. The increase in numbers thereafter is not
known. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has now established its
organisational set up in almost all parts of the state. Recently, it
undertook the distribution of tridents, as a part of the effort to
use religious symbols for mobilisation and to create self-confidence
rooted in religious identity. There are a couple of newspapers and
quite a few periodicals which generally serve the Hindu communal
cause. Saraswati Shishu Mandirs and such other schools serve as
recruiting grounds of unsuspecting young children. There are
innumerable cultural organisations, promoting and disseminating
communal ideas in the guise of patronising literature, theatre,
traditional arts and science or the renovation of village temples.
Their activities have led to the emergence of a cultural right in
Kerala, which receives legitimacy from intellectuals who claim to be
independent. The intervention of these institutions has made a
qualitative change in the consciousness and outlook of a fairly large
number of Hindus. A fundamentalist shift has taken place.
A similar tendency has developed among the Muslims as well. After the
demolition of the Babri Masjid, a section of the Muslim youth felt
rather restive and dissatisfied with the pacifist stand taken by the
existing political and social formations. They rallied around more
militant outfits such as the Islamic Service Society and the National
Development Front. There are also several other fundamentalist
groups, active in different fields of social life. The following of
the fundamentalist- militant organisations has been steadily on the
increase for quite some time. The reformist forces among the Muslims
have not been able check this.
The incident in Marad indicates that communalism has arrived in
Kerala. It is a proof that the stage of proto-communalism, which had
a long period of incubation, is over. During this phase, a sense of
religious division had slowly emerged, socially articulated through
organised religiosity. The organisations of different religions vie
with each other to bring the faith of the believer to the streets.
The religious practices have now spilled over from the domestic and
sacred spaces to the public space, eliminating in the process the
distinction between religious beliefs and religiosity. Religious
processions in which women and children participate carrying
religious symbols is a familiar sight in almost all parts of Kerala.
The street processions have become common for festivals of all
religious denominations. This was unknown about 20 years back, but
now conducted with the support of social organisations and the
blessings of public figures. Like `raksha bandan', which was never a
part of the cultural tradition of Kerala, almost every upper caste
practice has now become a common Hindu religious public celebration.
The participation in publicly organised religious functions is a
source of psychological satisfaction and creates a sense of
solidarity. Kerala is now besieged by godmen and women, widely
patronised by political leaders, giving legitimacy to the
superstitions surrounding them. The spiritual retreats managed by
them are many, which attract the crisis-ridden middle class as a
source of solace, if not as a means of escape from the pressures of
`globalised' life. The resulting social hegemony of religious
discourse legitimises religious social division. Consequently, the
Hindus, the Muslims and the Christians have emerged as separate
entities, not only in their personal and domestic lives, but also in
social existence. As a consequence, a transition from the
communitarian to the communal has been taking place, slowly but
steadily. Marad is an example of that transition, which is occurring
in many parts of Kerala.
The communal idea is thus well embedded in society. The social base
of all secular parties has been eroded and a fairly large section of
the population has become ideologically communal, even if not
politically so. It is because communalism has not yet become a
political alternative in the State. When it does, a reconfiguration
of the electoral base of several political parties is on the cards.
The Marad incident is likely to hasten this process, as every
communal riot widens the social distance between communities and
enhances mutual hostility.
The demographic pattern of Kerala characterised by the interspersed
distribution of the members of religious denominations is both
strength and weakness. It tends to promote secular consciousness by
creating a shared common space in daily life. But at the same time it
could engender greater violence at the time of communal conflict.
Therefore the communalisation of Kerala can spell much greater
disaster than in other parts of the country. In Marad, where Hindus
and Muslims are evenly distributed and live together, an atmosphere
of fear and suspicion has gripped the minds of people. Many, it is
reported, afraid of further violence, have deserted their localities.
The ghettoisation, which might follow, would intensify communal
hostility.
When communal violence takes place the strong and decisive
intervention of the state is crucial for its suppression. The
district authorities have promised impartial and immediate action. A
judicial enquiry also has been ordered. While they are all important
in themselves in punishing the guilty, which should be done
expeditiously, efforts are urgently needed to reverse the process of
communalisation. Since the hitherto followed methods of speeches,
demonstrations and cultural events have not been effective enough, it
is time to explore other means. A possible alternative is
grassroot-level interventions for fostering secular consciousness
rather than working only for communal harmony. Communal harmony after
all cannot be a reality without secular social consciousness.
______
#4.
The Hindustan Times, May 13, 2003
Chickens return to roost
by AG Noorani
The VHP has launched a campaign for legislation to build a Ram mandir
at Ayodhya. The BJP's plea to its mentors in the Sangh parivar on May
2 was that such a law was "not possible without a majority in
Parliament".
Its president, Venkaiah Naidu, said publicly on April 19: "A law was
not possible because we do not have the requisite strength in
Parliament."
The issue lay dormant for a while. Unfortunately, it was none other
than the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who under pressure
from the RSS, revived the Ayodhya issue and the legislation idea at
New York on September 9, 2000. "If the electorate gives us a clear
two-thirds majority, we will build the India of our dreams," he said
in reply to a question on Ayodhya by Swami Satyanand.
In Parliament, on December 6, 2000, he asserted: "The project for
constructing a Ram temple in Ayodhya was the expression of
nationalist feelings." This was a shift in his position. For, on
April 6, 1989, in Mumbai, he publicly rejected the proposal to
declare the Babri mosque as a national monument under the Ancient
Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, and asked
the Muslims to agree to the handing over of the mosque to the Hindus
unconditionally as it was a part of their cultural heritage. For good
measure, he added that the need of the hour was to revive the Hindu
nationalist spirit.
This was in line with the BJP's definitive resolution adopted at
Palampur on June 11, 1989: "The sentiments of the overwhelming
majority in the country, the Hindus" must be respected. It was, thus,
a communal, not a national question. But, it "cannot be sorted out by
a court of law=8A A court of law can settle issues of title, trespass
possession etc". It was a matter of faith of the majority community,
to be resolved by a majority vote. Ergo, the mosque must be "handed
over to the Hindus - if possible through a negotiated settlement, or
else, by legislation=8A Litigation certainly is no answer".
Both themes were repeated with greater vigour in the BJP's White
Paper on 'Ayodhya and the Ram Temple Movement', published in April
1993, after the demolition of the mosque on December 6, 1992. It
poured scorn on the country's legal system: "English jurisprudence
with its bipartite legal system which could only treat the Ayodhya
issue as a private property dispute" - and on "the Anglicised Indian
intellectuals which (sic) singled out Ayodhya to discredit the
Hindus".
There is a precedent directly on point when this very legal system
upheld the rule of law and settled the dispute. Muslims claimed
possession of a gurdwara in Lahore which once upon a time was a
mosque, as the Sikhs also accepted. However, the mosque, built in
1722, came under the Sikhs' possession 40 years later. Over a century
later, in 1855, the Muslims sued for its possession and lost as they
did, finally, on May 2, 1940, when the Privy Council rightly upheld
the Sikhs case. It ruled that mosques are not exempt from application
of the law of limitation. Nor are temples, assuming that the Babri
mosque was built in 1528 on the remains of a temple for which no
evidence exits.
It is this law, prevalent all over the world, which the Sangh parivar
has been up against. Prayers were said in the mosque right till
December 22, 1949, when idols were surreptitiously installed in the
mosque and the FIR by a police constable, Mata Prasad, was recorded.
The aftermath is instructive. In the Punjab assembly, bills were
moved by Malik Barkat Ali of the Muslim League and by K.L. Gauha to
nullify the judicial verdict. The premier, Sikandar Hyat Khan -
himself a Muslim Leaguer - opposed the bills in a powerful speech.
What "if non-Muslims claimed similar immunity from the law for their
places of worship in the Punjab which had passed out of their hands
into Muslim possession". Also, "it would provoke similar bills in
those provinces where the non-Muslims are in a majority."
The Shahidganj Gurdwara still stands in Lahore, a testimony to the
law of limitation and to "English jurisprudence". But the law which
the parivar desires cannot be enacted even by a constitutional
amendment. In 1994, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the
title suits pending in the Allahabad High Court cannot be aborted by
legislation. It struck down Section 4 (3)
of the Acquisition of Certain Areas at Ayodhya Act. In Indira
Gandhi's election case, the court had ruled that a constitutional
amendment cannot decide "a matter of which the country's courts were
lawfully seized". Still less can ordinary legislation.
=46or quite some time, the idea of legislation was dropped. The
solution was confined to accord or judicial verdict. On June 6, 1998,
Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote to the PM expressing her
disquiet over reports of preparations for constructing the temple and
seeking assurance that the sanctity of the judicial process would be
upheld. The PM replied the very next day. The correspondence was
promptly published: "If the Supreme Court paves the way for the
construction of the Ram mandir at Ayodhya,
the verdict will be given effect to accordingly. If, on the other
hand, the apex court gives a contrary ruling, my government will
perform its constitutional duty of ensuring that nobody will act
against the verdict."
Venkaiah Naidu deviously hinted recently on April 3: "The VHP is a
separate organisation. It can always mobilise public opinion in
support of its views till such time MPs bring about a legislation."
Now, fed on promises of old, the VHP became restive. It accused the
BJP of exploiting the issue for its own ends. On April 24, Ashok
Singhal accused L.K. Advani of betrayal once he came to power.
He has a point. On June 18, 1991, Advani had said: "Had I not played
the Ram factor effectively, I would have definitely lost from New
Delhi." In July 1992, he said that Ayodhya helped the BJP: "From two
seats in Parliament in 1985, we have come to 117 seats in 1991."
Sushma Swaraj also admitted on April 14, 2000, that the temple
movement was "purely political in nature and had nothing to do with
religion".
None foresaw the menace the BJP posed better than Yashwant Sinha. His
financial wizardry and skills in diplomacy have obscured his deep
commitment to secularism. He criticised his own party, the Janata
Dal, for accepting the BJP as "a partner" in 1989 and others for
accepting the Jan Sangh's support in 1967 and 1977. "We=8A carried the
BJP on our shoulders from strength to strength=8A Religious fanaticism
soon became the declared electoral platform of the BJP."
Writing a week after the mosque's demolition in The Sunday Observer
(December 14, 1992), Sinha warned prophetically: "India is being
pushed back into the dark ages by obscurantism, fundamentalist and
fascist forces=8A Their appeasement=8A has today given them the strength
and the audacity to seek to destroy the very basis of our Nation
State. This is the gravest and most formidable challenge before us=8A
The secular forces will have to unitedly and determinedly meet this
challenge if India is to survive as a democratic, secular,
progressive, liberal and modern nation=8A We must fight them. All
liberal elements [should] unite to save India."
Only the mean will denounce him as a turncoat for joining the BJP
shortly thereafter. That was his 'pre-emptive strike' on the BJP's
bandwagon.
______
#5.
DAWN, May 12, 2003
Right-wing's bovine back-up plan
By Jawed Naqvi
At about the same time as Pakistan Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan
Jamali was unveiling his part of peace moves with India last Tuesday,
listing nuclear CBMs and facilitating travel for civilians as key
issues, his Indian counterpart was chairing a seemingly unrelated
cabinet meeting, that, among other domestic matters, approved a
proposal to enact a federal law against cow slaughter.
As a result, there could be no immediate official reaction to Mr
Jamali's rather important, even urgent catalogue of proposals.
Instead, the ubiquitous "unidentified sources" came into play. And,
as was to be expected, they promptly denounced the Pakistani measures
as completely inadequate.
The official Indian spokesman then had to do considerable rowing back
on Wednesday to limit the damage caused by this one wild swing of the
bat by the unnamed "sources". At stake was India's own image as the
initiator of a new peace process with Pakistan.
Even so, the cabinet meeting that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
had presided over that evening, was not really as divorced from Mr
Jamali's overtures as it might have seemed. Peace talks with Pakistan
and protection of the cow will always have a great, even if at times
inversely proportionate, relevance to any ruling party's plans in an
Indian election year.
This being so, any progress towards talks with Pakistan would
logically augur well for the Indian cow, particularly given the fact
that bovine welfare is emerging as a back-up plan for Hindu
nationalists as a substitute for the standoff with Pakistan, that
seems to be waning. How is the safety of the cow related to India's
approach towards Pakistan? The answer really is simple. The Bharatiya
Janata Party has usually thrived on emotive issues. It faces a clutch
of state polls in November and, later, next year, life-and-death
general elections.
As it happens, three of the states going to the polls in November are
precisely the ones that the BJP had lost to the Congress in the very
first electoral encounter it faced after the May 1998 nuclear tests.
It must have been an embarrassment to say the least for a hard-line
nationalist government to be defeated so roundly, not the least
because it was interpreted as a stinging rejection of the BJP's
cavalier jingoism displayed in a small desert town of Rajasthan.
There is a view too that the defeat in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Delhi and Manipur may have had a sobering effect on Mr Vajpayee and
that it actually shaped his next gambit in the form of the Lahore bus
journey. If cockiness doesn't work, try tact. There is a view also
that Pakistan's transgressions in Kargil might have evoked an
entirely different response from India had Mr Vajpayee not lost a
parliamentary trust vote by a single MP's betrayal.
Let's go back to Gujarat towards the end of 2002. Remember the
slogans against "Mian" Musharraf, emphasizing President Pervez
Musharraf's face as a Muslim leader? Mr Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata
Party rode home to an emphatic victory in the state elections, led by
a religious pogrom and sustained by an anti-Pakistan campaign.
Gujarati Muslims were identified as Pakistanis and "Mian" Musharraf
as their saviour.
Even the opposition Congress party, which rushed in to woo the
alienated Muslim vote, was branded an agent of President Musharraf.
Having succeeded in getting itself re-elected in Gujarat, the BJP
pondered plans to replicate the "Gujarat model" elsewhere in future
elections. But its loss in Himachal Pradesh to the Congress put a
question mark on the model's efficacy.
In the meantime, the archaeological digging ordered by a court at the
site of the razed Babri mosque in Ayodhya has thrown up only more
embarrassing relics from history which in no way assist the BJP's
claim that the disputed Ayodhya site was the birthplace of Lord Rama.
The mobilization of thousands of Hindu youth by the BJP's
street-fighting arm, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, with its distribution
of sanctified weapons or dagger-like trishuls has been fairly
successfully arrested in non-BJP states such as Rajasthan and Madhya
Pradesh. This is not a good omen for the saffron party since the
Congress or other opposition parties rule most of the Indian states
that will be involved in the general elections next year, where the
BJP cannot replicate its Gujarat model.
Mr Vajpayee mentioned the war on Iraq as one of the reasons that went
behind his offer of peace with Pakistan. The transformed political
situation in the region has evidently come at the wrong time for the
Hindu right, forcing peace talks with Pakistan as an international
compulsion.
Many in the BJP are ruing the fact that they have been robbed of a
major poll plank, leaving them with very little in the basket of
emotive issues to play with.
That is why there remains a threat to the road ahead with Pakistan.
An Akshardham, or a Kaluchak or Pulwama would be ruse enough to
derail the process, or so one hears the grumbling Right as hoping. On
the other hand, if saving the cow picks up steam as a national issue,
the chances of an engineered standoff with Pakistan are likely to
recede.
* * * * * *
Pakistan's MNA M.P. Bhandara is hoping that he correctly heard Mr
Vajpayee telling parliament what he told Mr Jamali. What he told Mr
Jamali, unless Mr Vajpayee's inflexion in the Hindi speech was
misleading, was that India and Pakistan should jointly fight the
menace of terrorism. This also happens to be the view of Mr Bhandara.
He told a group of senior Indian editors in Delhi that the people who
targeted the Indian parliament on December 13 were the same people
who killed the French submarine engineers in Karachi and they were
the same people who later tried to assassinate President Musharraf.
"These people obviously could not be harbouring any goodwill for
Pakistan," Mr Bhandara said, as members of Pakistan's
parliamentarians on a goodwill visit to India, looked on approvingly.
_____
#6.
Time Magazine, May 12, 2003
SUBCONTINENT: Lay Down Your Guns: India and Pakistan are talking, but
jihadis could undo a fragile d=E9tente
BY TIM MCGIRK
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501030519-451022,00.h=
tml
Backed into a Reasonable Corner
India and Pakistan might have little choice but to compromise over Kashmir
BY M.J. AKBAR
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501030519-451011,00.h=
tml
_____
#7.
The Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2003
Jihad.org
By Alyssa Ayres
India's prime minister recently announced the restoration of
diplomatic ties and air links with Pakistan, part of an ambitious
effort to end the dangerous state of enmity between the nuclear-armed
neighbors. A month ago relations had sunk so low that India's foreign
minister called Pakistan "a fitter case" than Iraq for pre-emptive
action. So there could not be better news than a thaw between India
and Pakistan. The only hitch is that India wants a stop to what it
calls "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir, meaning militant activity
by people trained in Pakistan, before agreeing to talks.
***
Some observers question the extent to which Pakistan can control the
Islamic militias active in Kashmir. The argument -- and we should
take it seriously -- runs like this: After decades of free-agent
warmongering in Afghanistan and now Kashmir, these groups simply
don't follow orders. This might be partially true. But mujahedeen
intransigence should not relieve the government of Pakistan from
policing activities within its borders. The continued operation and
open production of jihad-recruitment media reveals a less than
thorough effort to curtail jihadis. One militia that aggressively
publishes jihadi literature, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed
responsibility for a recent attempt to kill the finance minister of
the Kashmir state government. India blames the Lashkar for the
massacre in March of 25 Kashmiri Hindus, the December 2001 suicide
attack on India's parliament, and several assassinations of
politicians in the Kashmir elections in October.
Theoretically, the Lashkar does not exist: Pakistan's President
Musharraf banned it in January last year and jailed its founder for
six months. It enjoys the distinction of a place on the U.S. State
Department's Foreign Terrorist Organizations roster, which puts it in
the company of al Qaeda, the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and Hamas. But
for a banned militia, one whose assets should have been frozen 16
months ago, their media production continues apace. Two weeks ago
they gave their family of Web sites a muscular relaunch, suggesting a
new infusion of cash or smarts.
"Are you ready for the final journey?" Colorful calligraphy on the
April 2003 online magazine, Zarb-e-Taiba, ("Strike/Blow of the Pure")
invites the curious to click on in. For those who may be considering
taking the "final journey," this helpful Web site provides details:
ticket, free; seat, reserved; nationality, Muslim. The journey? One
bestowing great benefit. What can you take with you? Five meters of
white cloth and a small amount of cotton -- the ritual materials for
an Islamic burial. In other words, a holy warrior's suicide mission.
Other provocative offerings in recent days include downloadable,
jihad-themed audio files, and downloadable computer wallpapers. One
collage depicts "evil" with a broken cross, a Star of David, a broken
chakra (an Indian emblem), Israeli and Indian flags, the White House,
and the Eiffel Tower. An enormous sword exhorts young men to offer
themselves up onto the battleground of truth and falsehood. Another
vivid image depicts two red raised fists, shackled and chained --
producing a shape nearly identical to the map of undivided Kashmir --
and captioned "Mix your blood with ours." (The symbolic map of
undivided Kashmir, an important image, recurs periodically throughout
jihadi material, including an appearance in perhaps the most
horrifying moment of the video made by Daniel Pearl's executioners).
Another set of links launches a sister Web site, entirely in Arabic,
with explicit calls to join the Kashmir jihad.
These Web sites offer an important lesson, one that lies not only in
the fact that a complete demi-monde dedicated to a violent vision of
jihad in Kashmir exists within Pakistan, but as well as in the
not-so-fine print about the conditions of their production. The
publications online, including Zarb-e-Taiba, openly provide an
official registration number, a telephone number, and an address of
publication: 4 Lake Road, Chauburji, Lahore. The address in question
lies about seven minutes' drive from the Punjab Secretariat and the
Lahore police headquarters. For a banned militia to be printing up
magazines in hard copy and virtual form, material obviously designed
to recruit militants for a "final journey" into Kashmir, right under
the nose of the Pakistani authorities, can only mean one of two
things. Someone either can't, or won't, connect the dots.
The armed conflict in Kashmir has claimed tens of thousands of lives
and destroyed the spirits of those who have survived unspeakable
miseries. No one's hands are clean in Kashmir, particularly not the
Indian security forces. Kashmiris have suffered terribly, and deserve
a shot at peace. So do ordinary citizens of India and Pakistan alike,
who have spent the last four years on a nuclear-threat rollercoaster.
Resumption of diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan and the
possibility of wide-ranging talks between the two countries offer a
glimmer of hope for peace.
But that peace will remain a fantasy as long as spoilers like the
Lashkar-e-Taiba receive free rein to propagate their vision and
recruit new soldiers to the task. Marshall McLuhan was right: The
medium is the message. This one should be switched off.
Ms. Ayres, co-editor of "India Briefing: Quickening the Pace of
Change" (M.E. Sharpe, 2002), was named a 2002-03 Fulbright-Hays
scholar for Pakistan, but the program was suspended for security
reasons.
_____
#8.
PAKISTAN INDIA PEOPLE'S FORUM FOR PEACE AND DEMOCRACY
P U B L I C M E E T I N G
PAK - INDIA RELATIONS - THE PATH AHEAD
SPEAKERS:
=46IVE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FROM PAKISTAN
& MAHESH BHATT, JAVED AKHTAR.
WHICH WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A QUESTION ANSWER SESSION.
VENUE: BHUPESH GUPTA BHAVAN,
NEAR RAVINDRA NATYA MANDIR, PRABHADEVI,
MUMBAI.
DATE: MAY 13, 2003
TIME: 6PM
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
JATIN DESAI, NEERA ADARKAR, PUSHPA BHAVE, VIJAYA
CHAVAN, SANJIVINI KHER, SUGAND BORKAR AND
FEROZE H. MITHIBORWALA
_____
#9.
Bhopal Activists End Hunger Strike on 12th Day
Launch Global Relay Fast
Washington, D.C. 12 May, 2003 -- Two women survivors and a long-time Bhopal
activist today ended their 12-day hunger strike for justice in Bhopal at the
Gandhi Statue in front of the Indian Embassy today in Washington, D.C. More
than 40 people, including representatives from PACE International Union,
Greenpeace, Health Care Without Harm, D.C. Collective, Code Pink Women for
Peace and Association for India's Development attended the gathering, and
issued statements in solidarity.
Mr. Anil Chowdhry, Minister for Personal and Community Affairs, met the
Bhopal delegation and assured to communicate to the Government of India
their demands -- namely, extradition of Anderson and inclusion of Dow
Chemical as an accused in the Bhopal criminal case.
The Campaign called upon supporters worldwide to sign on to the Worldwide
Relay Hunger Strike for Justice in Bhopal and keep it alive until the 19th
Bhopal anniversary on December 3, 2003. The global coalition, International
Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, declared December 3 as the Global Day of
Action Against Corporate Crime and has appealed to trade unions, public
interest organizations and those protesting the abuses of globalization to
observe the day by organizing activities to fight for justice against
corporate crimes in their localities.
More than 40 people attended the gathering. Pete Strader
"Justice delayed is justice denied. The Indian Government should expedite
the extradition of Warren Anderson and move rapidly to include Dow in the
criminal case against Union Carbide in Bhopal," said Rashida Bee, president
of the Bhopal Gas-affected Women Stationery Workers Association, a trade
union that is a member of the global coalition. Despite repeated orders by
the Bhopal district court to expedite the trial, the Indian Government has
been reluctant to bring UCC and Anderson to justice fueling speculation that
it has succumbed to pressure from the US multinational.
On May 8, the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal confronted Dow
Chemical, the new owners of Union Carbide, outside its annual shareholders
meeting in Midland, Michigan. Addressing shareholders, Dow chairman William
Stavropoulos stated that Union Carbide - a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow
Chemical - does not face criminal charges in the Bhopal court. However, as
recently as April 9, 2003, the Central Bureau of Investigation had indicated
to the court that it will submit a report on including Dow as an accused in
addition to Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) in the ongoing criminal case. In
1986, UCC, its former chairman Warren Anderson and ten others were charged
with manslaughter among other crimes. Neither Anderson nor UCC have appeared
in court to face trial.
"In merging with UCC, Dow has acquired a fugitive from justice. By failing
to subject itself to the Indian legal system, Dow is trying to evade its
responsibilities and has exposed its callous disregard for the law of the
land," said Satinath Sarangi of ICJB. Sarangi, along with Bee and her
colleague Champa Devi, began an indefinite fast from New York's financial
district on May 1.
Having handed over the hunger strike to supporters around the world, the
Bhopal delegation will travel around the United States raising awareness
about Dow's crimes in Bhopal and build resistance against the company. More
than 200 people from 19 countries have already joined the global fast.
The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal is a global coalition led
by the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal. Billed as the
world's worst industrial disaster, the Union Carbide gas leak killed 8000
within three days of the disaster and exposed more than 500,000. ICJB calls
upon Dow, the new owners of Union Carbide, to face longstanding criminal
charges against Carbide in India, release toxicological information
regarding the poison gases, arrange for long-term medical rehabilitation and
monitoring, provide economic rehabilitation and social support for survivors
children, and clean up the toxic wastes and contaminated groundwater in and
around Carbide's old factory site. The demand to the Government of India is
to ensure that Dow is held accountable.
=46or more information, visit: www.bhopal.net
Contact: Nityanand Jayaraman. Cell: 520 906 5216. Email: nity68@vsnl.com
Krishnaveni G. Cell: 832.444.1731. Email: krishnaveni_g@sbcglobal.net
o o o
[Related Material]
The Miami Herald, May. 11, 2003
Bhopal's long agony BY SARA OLKON
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/5837699.htm
_____
#10.
The Institute of Peace
<http://www.usip.org>
invites you to a Current Issues Briefing: RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM &
GOVERNANCE IN SOUTH ASIA: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PRESSURES
India, Pakistan and Afghanistan are all grappling with ethnic and
religious tensions that demand social accommodation and good
governance. At the same time, temptations to stoke latent or
blatant hostilities for political power seem to be on the rise. The
war in Iraq has introduced a new and unpredictable element,
especially into the volatile politics of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The way in which these states ultimately reconcile competing
pressures will determine the future politics of South Asia. Join us
for a meeting with experts who will discuss these critical issues and
invite audience participation.
Speakers:
AKBAR AHMED, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American
University on "The Battle for the Soul of Islam: The Case of Pakistan
and Afghanistan"
PARTHA GHOSH, director of the Indian Council of Social Science
Research, New Delhi, India on "Religion, Nation-Building and
Terrorism: The South Asian Experience"
MOHAMMED AYOOB, Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University
on "The War on Iraq and its Impact on South and Southwest Asia"
Moderator:
DEEPA OLLAPALLY, South Asia Specialist, U.S. Institute of Peace
Thursday, May 15, 2003 from 9:30 - 11:30am
To be held at the Institute, 2nd Floor Conference Room, 1200 17th
Street NW, Washington, DC (Farragut North-Red & Farragut
West-Blue/Orange Metro Stops)
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
SACW is an informal, independent & non-profit citizens wire service run by
South Asia Citizens Web (www.mnet.fr/aiindex).
The complete SACW archive is available at: http://sacw.insaf.net
DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
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