SACW | 20 June, 2003

Harsh Kapoor aiindex@mnet.fr
Fri, 20 Jun 2003 03:31:44 +0100


South Asia Citizens Wire   | 20 June,  2003

#1. Friendship and Arithmetic (Mukul Dube)
#2. No Indian troops to Iraq - Online Petition
#3. Iraq : Letter to the Editor (K. Ashok Rao)
#4. Public Event: Remembering Omar Asghar Khan (24th June 2003, Karachi)
#5. Call For Entries 3rd Karafilm Festival - Karachi 2003
#6. Public Meeting: PUCL-DELHI to hold 'anti-emergency' day on 26 June 2003
#7. PUKAR and The Bombay Paperie  - Public lecture and discussion on 
"Squatter Cities"  (June 21, Bombay)
#8. The problems of conducting historical research in Pakistan (Mubarak Ali)
#9. Invest in Peace Bonds


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

#1.

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=26020

The Indian Express, June 19 2003

Friendship and Arithmetic

Mukul Dube

While walking my puppy Goofy I ran into two small boys who are always 
to be seen together. Let me call them Mihir and Zafar to protect 
their individual identities while establishing their religious 
identities, so much more important these days.
     The boys dashed forward to play with the puppy, whom they adore - 
and she, in return, was deliriously happy to meet them. But they did 
not play with her as single-mindedly as always. Something was 
bothering them. I heard Zafar ask, in the insistent way that children 
have when they deal with illogic, "But why can't I come to see your 
Nani's puja? Why not? Your Nani is my friend."
     Children are also trained to unquestioningly accept authority, 
even if it be tainted with the worst kind of illogic. Thus it was 
that Mihir said, "You can't come because the puja room has to be kept 
clean."
     Zafar did not understand. He said that he took two baths a day, 
with soap, and that when entering any house he always took off his 
shoes. Mihir had no answer. He too did not understand. Instead, in 
the dull monotone familiar to us all, he repeated what he had said 
earlier. The exact same words. He will probably spend his life saying 
them in the same way.
     Clean and unclean. The child understands these notions in the 
simplest, most logical way. Clean means soap and water and trimmed 
fingernails and washed clothes and shoes not covered in mud. How 
another child, clean in the same way and to the same degree, can 
render a space unclean, is unknown to the child. It cannot be known 
because there can be no rational explanation for such arrant nonsense.
     Yet the invisible is immeasurably more powerful than that which 
can be evaluated by the senses. The Hindu child accepts without 
question the absurd idea that another child, one born into a Muslim 
family, will render a puja room unclean. In much the same way, the 
Hindu child is from time to time kept out of his Muslim friend's home.
     If sharing is considered an elemental part of friendship, can we 
call such children friends? We bluster that they are friends, of 
course they are - while suppressing the reality that they are not 
friends in the real sense and never can be. That is, we have no 
logical answer. We can but sputter, looking about us shiftily. For 
while we know that we are wrong, while reason and our senses tell us 
that we are wrong, we are compelled to insist that we are right.
     There are 1,100 million Muslims in the world and they think that 
they alone know the truth, while the remaining 4,617 million people 
in the world think that the Muslims are wrong. For the 1,928 million 
Christians who think they are right, there are 3,788 million 
non-Christians who think that the Christians are wrong. The pattern 
repeats itself for the 780 million Hindus and the 324 million 
Buddhists, and so on. (Since numerical precision is not the object, I 
use 1994 estimates.)
     The point is that each religion which thinks that it alone is 
right, is considered wrong by many times more people than its 
adherents. Each religion is thus, in global terms, in a minority. 
Every individual on this planet is considered wrong, a damn fool, by 
far more people than those who do not so regard him or her.
     Simply put, ours is a planet whose every inhabitant is a damn 
fool in statistical terms, in the view of the majority. I think it is 
a considerable miracle that we should have achieved so much despite 
being so conclusively devoid of sense in our own collective opinion 
of one another.
     How much more we could have achieved had we not wasted so much 
energy battling one another - indeed, battling Reason itself. What 
incalculable quantities of human blood we could have kept ourselves 
from spilling in defence of assertions which cannot be proved.
     How much longer will we remain damn fools, forcing on thousands 
of millions of helpless Zafars and Mihirs ideas which they must cling 
to - and maybe kill each other for, forgetting their innocent desire 
for friendship - even though they cannot comprehend them rationally?

_____


#2.

[TAKE A MINUTE AND SIGN THE PETITION BELOW]

o o o

No troops to Iraq
http://www.petitiononline.com/NITTIraq/petition.html

[Text of Petition to Indian Ambassador in Washington, DC. ]
______________________________________________________________________________

June 19, 2003

The Ambassador
Embassy of India in the United States
Washington DC

Dear Ambassador Mansingh,

We are writing to express our disappointment and deep concern at the 
recent comments made by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, about 
sending Indian troops to Iraq. While it is encouraging to note that 
no firm commitment has been made as yet, we are dismayed that our 
government is even considering the possibility of deploying troops to 
Iraq, whether under the aegis of the United Nations or the United 
States government. This act alone will reverse decades of India's 
political and moral leadership in the Non-Aligned world, apart from 
alienating the Iraqi peoples, whose ties with our country date back 
thousands of years.

The US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq has been clearly 
recognized by the world as an act of colonization. It has only been a 
little over a half century that we Indians and people of Indian 
origin, suffered the brutal onslaught and after-effects of 
colonialism.  Now we are told by the Deputy PM, that supporting 
colonial objectives is in the best interests of India? We disagree. 
Not only does such support for colonization and plunder go against 
the very grain of India's struggle for freedom and its constitution, 
but it also legitimizes actions by the United States that are in 
flagrant violation of international laws and norms.

The United States is an occupying power, and Iraq's people have a 
legitimate right to resist this occupation under international law. 
The United States is eager to bring in Indian troops to use as a 
shield against Iraqi
resistance, which will essentially mean that Indian troops will face 
the anger of the Iraqi population. Once again, young Indian boys will 
be sacrificed for the imperial agenda of yet another racist Western 
power,
which has perfected the deadly tactic of divide-and-rule. Indian 
soldiers should never be used in this shameful manner by an 
administration which has alienated public opinion in virtually every 
nation across the globe.

Over the past few years, the Indian government's official and 
cultural hostility towards minorities has provoked both shock and 
revulsion among our allies in the Non-Aligned world who, until now, 
looked to us as a model -- or at least an aspiration -- for a plural 
and inclusive society. Deploying troops to Iraq will further erode 
this goodwill and trust, besides weakening our position globally by 
making us appear as a disgraced lackey of the United States 
government. Such a move would also send the wrong signal to
our friends in the Islamic world. The United States is no friend of 
the Indian people, nor of the Iraqi people, nor of any part of the 
developing world. Let us not sacrifice our moral, political and 
cultural integrity for
short-term, destructive and politically expedient schemes.

Further,  Mr. Advani does not speak for all Indians when he offers to 
serve imperialist interests and violent agendas.

In light of the above reasons, we the undersigned, demand that Mr. 
Advani unequivocally state his and our government's refusal to pander 
to the United States' demand of sending Indian troops to Iraq.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

========

[ADAPT THE ABOVE LETTER AND FAX OR E-MAIL TO:]

Prime Minister of India
Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee
3 Race Course Road
New Delhi 110001 India
Fax: 91-11-301-9545 or 91-11-301-6857
E-mail: <mailto:vajpayee@sansad.nic.in>vajpayee@sansad.nic.in

Minister of Home Affairs
Shri L. K. Advani
Ministry of Home Affairs
North Block, Central Secretariat
New Delhi 110 001 India
Fax: 91-11-301-5750 or 91-11-301-7763
E-mail: <mailto:Mhaweb@mhant.delhi.nic.in>Mhaweb@mhant.delhi.nic.in


_____


#3.

K. ASHOK RAO
J 152, Saket
New Delhi 110017
Tele: 51793365 (Off)
26962376 (Res)
E-mail: theraos@vsnl.com

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear Sir,

It is important to briefly recall the history of Indian involvement 
in Iraq under the British Colonial Government and then to ask have we 
come full circle.

The British first colonized Iraq when it was carved out of the 
Ottoman Empire for its oil. In 1917, G S Barnes of the Viceroy's 
executive council explained why Iraq was important: "I hope that the 
administered territory will include the Mesopotamia (Iraq) oilfield. 
Oil is almost the only important commodity in respect of which the 
British Empire is not self-contained... our needs are likely to grow 
immensely in the immediate future."

Sir Percy Cox an Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer delineated the 
boundaries of Iraq. The ICS provided the bulk of the administrators. 
The British, in response to popular revolt, that was ruthlessly 
suppressed, sought a compromise by establishing a modicum of Arab 
participation in the running of the government. In this stabilization 
process, the Indian Army was used and those who participated in the 
suppression were decorated with an Iraq medal.  

Indian revenues considerably subsidized Britain's take-over of its 
oil. And the role of Indian labour was central. The administration 
was not eager to use Iraqi labour.  Indians also operated many other 
facilities in West Asia such as the Aden refinery. Records show that 
during and just after World War I, Indian labour had no right to even 
a day's leave per week. Under military law, employees could be 
detained indefinitely even beyond their term of contract. Workers 
were told they would be shot if they attempted to escape. Col R L 
Kennion, Magistrate at Mohemmerah on February 25, 1916 commenting on 
their living conditions, noted that, widthwise, each man had a foot 
of sleeping space.

History is repeating itself. The question is: in what capacity does 
the Indian Government intend to send its Army to Iraq (after the 
Anglo-American invasion which itself was based on lies)?  As a 
mercenary force where soldiers are directly paid in Dollars; as a 
"force on hire" where payments are made through contracts extended to 
India Inc., or as a colonial Army sent to serve the current colonial 
masters of the present Indian Government?

And will the Indian Administrative Service follow the Army so that 
the Anglo Americans can concentrate on "reconstructing" Iraq with 
Iraqi money through the American and British Corporations (with some 
crumbs thrown at India Inc.)? And will the cheap Indian labour follow 
to increase the profits of the Corporations.

Every self respecting Indian should stand up and oppose any support 
to the invasion and recolonisation of Iraq.

Yours faithfully,

(K. Ashok Rao)

_____


#4.

REMEMBERING

A great son of Pakistan who dedicated his life for the rights of
marginilised sections of the
society. Join us on 24th June 2003 at Karachi Arts Council at 5:30 P.M.
and share your
sentiments and views on his achievements.

Omar Asghar Khan Yadgari Committee
Contact: Tel: 6351145, 46, 47
Fax: 6350354

______


#5.

***************************************  CALL FOR ENTRIES 
*****************************************

3rd KARAFILM FESTIVAL - KARACHI 2003

Film and Video submissions are invited for the 3rd KaraFilm Festival 
- The Karachi International Film Festival 2003 - to take place in 
December 2003 in Karachi Pakistan.

The DEADLINE for Entries is July 31, 2003.

Submissions of creative work may be made in any of the following categories:

1. Feature Films (Fictional work more than 60 minutes duration)
2. Short Features (Fictional work between 15 and 60 minutes duration)
3. Documentaries (Non-Fiction work of any length)
4. Short Shorts (Live Action, Animated or Experimental films under 15 
minutes duration)


Films may originate on 35mm, 16mm, Beta, or DV formats. Preliminary 
submissions must be made on VHS tape along with entry forms and other 
publicity material. More information on requirements and where to 
send is available on the KaraFilm website:

<http://www.karafilmfest.com>http://www.karafilmfest.com

For further information contact: KaraFilm Festival 
<mailto:info@karafilmfest.com>info@karafilmfest.com
Or Hasan Zaidi: +92-333-2136564


____


#6.

PEOPLE'S UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES : DELHI
M-35, Greater Kailash-I, New Delhi-110 048. e-mail : 
<mailto:rajpushkar@rediffmail.com>rajpushkar@rediffmail.com

President          Vice-Presidents            General Secretary 
Secretaries       Treasurer
R.M.Pal            N.D.Pancholi                Pushkar Raj 
Joseph Gathia    Mahi Pal Singh

 
19.6.2003.
Dear friend

It is no revelation that as the state of the nation is, it is no less 
dissimilar to a state of emergency for the common man. The common man 
is under the heavy yoke of globalisation and privatization with the 
result that his very survival is in danger. He is face to face with 
poverty, unemployment, mal-nutrition and insensitive and 
unaccountable political leadership.

Moreover, religion is used for deflecting the attention of people 
from the real issues and driving a wedge between communities for 
political gains. Social movements are systematically sabotaged; 
protest is dubbed 'anti-patriotic'. The whole political class stands 
united when reform in election process is attempted by the efforts of 
the civil society. The role of media and even judiciary in this 
process of churning and changing times is less than appreciative. 
Where do we go from here and what are the options available to us?

To discuss all these and related issues PUCL-DELHI will hold a 
meeting to commemorate anti-emergency day on 26-6-2003 (Thursday) at 
4:30 pm at Gandhi Peace Foundation, Deendayal Upadhaya Marg, ITO, New 
Delhi.

The distinguished citizens from the field of human rights, academics, 
journalism and law will participate in the meeting and the discussion.

You are cordially invited to attend the meeting.

With warm regards,
Yours truly,
Pushkar Raj
General Secretary
PUCL-DELHI

____


#7.

Dear Friends:

PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action & Research) and The Bombay 
Paperie invite you to "Squatter Cities", a public lecture and 
discussion with journalist ROBERT NEUWIRTH, on examining the various 
perceptions, political conditions, and people's experiences slum and 
squatter settlements in different cities throughout the world.

ROBERT NEUWIRTH is a freelance journalist and writer from New York. 
He is currently working on a book on the everyday life of slum and 
squatter settlements in different parts of the world. He has lived in 
slums in Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, and he presently lives in 
Sanjay Gandhi Nagar in Goregaon East, in Mumbai. He has been a staff 
reporter on daily newspapers and weekly news magazines, and his work 
has published in the Village Voice, New York Times, New York Daily 
News, Wired Magazine, and The Nation. He is a contributing editor to 
City Limits (http://www.citylimits.org/). He has also taught inmates 
at Raiker's Island Jail as a Professor at City University of New 
York. His forthcoming book, for which he received a grant from the 
Macarthur Foundation, will be published in 2004 by Routledge.

The discussion will be moderated by DEVIKA MAHADEVAN, who works with 
SPARC (Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres) on 
documentation activities. She studied at Brandeis University and the 
London School of Economics (LSE) and is from Mumbai.

Date:
SATURDAY 21 JUNE 2002
6.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m.

At:
The BOMBAY PAPERIE
Mezzanine Floor, Soonawalla Building
59, Bombay Samachar Marg
Opposite the Stock Exchange
Fort, Bombay 400001

_____


#8.

[Posted below is the second and conclusive part of Mubarak Ali's 
article the previous article 'The content and teaching of history in 
Pakistan (Dawn, 8 June, 2003) was circulated in SACW 11 June, 2003]

o o o

DAWN, 15 June 2003

The problems of conducting historical research in Pakistan
By Mubarak Ali

After the teaching of history, the second aspect that we need to 
examine is research in the subject. Firstly, students and teachers 
who engage in research work to get an M..Phil. or a Ph.D. degree do 
so to get better teaching jobs and promotions. Secondly, teachers try 
to get their research papers published in journals since this is the 
condition for academic promotion.
Though the actual condition is that they must have been published in 
journals of international repute, it is not really adhered too. 
Credit is given by institutions to members of their faculty even if 
their work is published in magazines or newspapers .In some special 
cases, letters of acceptance from dubious journals are even accepted 
in considering whether to promote a candidate. Hence, such research 
papers contribute nothing to the subject.
Since most of these research papers are below the standard, the 
candidates try to get them published in their own university 
journals. If that is not possible, then some academics even begin 
their own journals, so to get their own articles published. In the 
last category are those scholars who really do hard work and come up 
with some real research. There are very few scholars in this category 
in Pakistan.
If we analyze by content the topics selected by M.Phil. and Ph.D. 
scholars for research, most them belong to the Pakistan movement. In 
every provincial university, the most popular topics are the 
contribution of that particular province towards the struggle for 
Pakistan. Next comes the contribution of districts and cities to the 
Freedom Movement. The content is usually centred on the role played 
by different groups such as students, ulema, sufis and women whose 
contribution is highlighted. In the University of Sindh, two or three 
theses are submitted on the separation of Sindh from the Bombay 
Presidency. Candidates choose topics in such a way that it becomes 
easy to get permission from the university It also shows their 
patriotism and love to their country. Furthermore, these topics 
strengthen the official version of history that justifies partition 
and legitimizes the two-nation ideology.
Very few theses are written on medieval history since one requires 
knowledge of Persian. The same is the case of Muslim history where 
knowledge of Arabic is needed to consult the original sources. As 
there no condition that students of history must be fluent in such 
languages, they are not well equipped to do any research in these 
fields. As far as ancient history is concerned, there is no research 
at all in Pakistan.
There two trends in Pakistani historiography: one is to prove that 
existing territories of Pakistan have never been a part of the Indian 
subcontinent except for the last 500 years and therefore have a 
separate history of its own. It is further argued that this part of 
the Indian subcontinent was never ruled by any Hindu ruler. This 
theory was popularized after the separation of East Pakistan and an 
attempt is made to connect the region with Afghanistan and Central 
Asia culturally rather than with India.
In the second trend, regional historians are trying to construct a 
history that could strengthen the country's regional identity. These 
are the consequences of having a strong centre (in terms of 
government) and of the centralization of historiography. Among the 
four provinces, this trend is very strong in Sindh, which claims that 
it has its own separate history. Based on this claim, it makes 
demands for provincial autonomy. Hence, as far as regional histories 
are concerned, regional nationalism plays an important role in 
historical narratives.
During the period of Ayub Khan, an attempt was made to write a 
comprehensive history of Pakistan. The general editor of the project 
was I H Qureshi and the contributors were the prominent historians of 
Pakistan. However, the output of these historians was very poor. They 
failed to provide any new point of view, interpretation or insight 
into the history they were writing.
There is new trend in historiography outside the universities in 
which prominent political families hire historians for writing the 
history of their family or ancestors in order to give them a 
dignified place in history. Such biographies fail to evaluate the 
role or character of a family or individual correctly and 
objectively. There is another trend of retired bureaucrats and 
generals writing autobiographies and justifying their role in recent 
history. In most of the cases, what they write is mere falsification 
and distortion. As their claims are not challenged, their version of 
history may be accepted as truth. Some of them even take away all 
documents and material, which was under their control for writing 
autobiographies and in this way deprive future historians of access.
Besides this, there are other serious problems for researchers. No 
attempt is made to set up libraries containing original and secondary 
material of different periods and aspects of history. It is well nigh 
impossible for a scholar to travel from one city to another in search 
of material in public and private collections. There is no central 
catalogue to guide researchers about the material that is lying in 
different libraries. Material of great importance - lying in 
government departments such as CID, judicial, and revenue records - 
is not properly sorted and preserved. Most of the record is kept in 
bundles and sacks, waiting for an expert to come, sift through it and 
catalogue it. No fellowships or financial assistance is available to 
researchers for going abroad to collect material.
Professional societies
After partition, some historians who migrated from India formed the 
Pakistan Historical Society at Karachi whose secretary was Moinul 
Haq. It started to publish the Journal of the Pakistan Historical 
society and earned respect in the academic community. It also laid 
down the tradition of holding history conferences in which historians 
from different foreign countries participated. However, gradually the 
activities of the society slowed down. There were number of reasons 
for this.
First, it was monopolized by a group that did not allow other 
historians to become its members. The same people were elected again 
and again and no system was evolved to involve more people in its 
academic activities. Moinul Haq remained its secretary until his 
death. After him, the society was dissolved and its library and 
journal were taken over by the Hamdard Foundation. Now, the journal 
is published by the Foundation but its academic standards are lowered 
because of the lack of good and qualified contributors.
A number of attempts were made to form an Association of Historians 
but every time it failed to materialize. Some conferences were 
organized by different universities but this could not become an 
annual feature. In the absence of any association or society, the 
historians have no forum where they can assemble and present their 
research. They also do not have any opportunity to contact other 
foreign associations and participate in international conferences. 
This drawback further reduces their capacity to take interest in 
research.
Research institutes
Provincial governments and their culture departments have set up some 
research institutes for historical research. The Pakistan Institute 
of Historical and Cultural Research was set up in Islamabad with the 
motive to promote research activities. Initially, its working was 
quite satisfactory. It published a number of books on different 
aspects of South Asian history. Soon, it also deteriorated and lost 
its credibility. A number of times it announced that it would publish 
a comprehensive history of Pakistan but the project remained 
incomplete because of a lack of historians to write the various 
volumes. It publishes a research journal, irregularly and with 
limited circulation.Punjab University on the other hand set up the 
Research Society of Pakistan with the purpose to publish original 
Persian sources on medieval Indian history. In the early period, it 
published a number of edited manuscripts of importance. It also 
undertook the task of publishing monographs on the history of Punjab. 
However, because of the absence of funding, the society was recently 
dissolved, but a journal is published intermittently. Sadly, it 
articles adhere to no proper academic standard.
In Sindh, just after partition, the provincial government established 
the Sindhi Adabi Board for the promotion of history and culture. The 
Board's excellent work was to publish original sources on the history 
of Sindh. Some of them were translated into Urdu and Sindhi. The 
Board also planned to publish a comprehensive history of Sindh but 
only five or six volumes were published. The job remains unfinished 
so far because there are no historians to write the volumes.
In the Punjab, the Urdu Science Board (formerly the Urdu Markaz) and 
the Majlis-i-Tarraqqi Adab in their early period published Urdu 
translations of the Persian sources on medieval Indian history. These 
are excellent translations but both institutes no longer do that 
because of a lack of funding. At Karachi University, there is the 
institute for Central Asian history. It already has published some 
excellent manuscripts.
Conclusion
The analysis presented so far has attempted to show defects and 
shortcomings in the teaching and writing of history in our 
educational institutions. Since most of the research and teaching 
institutes are state-owned, researchers and teachers are rarely given 
the freedom to pursue their academic work freely and without state 
intervention. Scholars belonging to state institutions cannot 
participate in any conference or seminar abroad without first getting 
a so-called 'no-objection certificate' (NOC) from the government. 
 From time to time, directives are forthcoming from the government as 
well as institutions themselves to not publish any article without 
prior permission
History is not a popular subject in ruling circles since one of its 
results is to unfold and discover corruption, social and political 
crimes at the state level. Consequently, an 'anti-history' trend has 
emerged among our elite which discourages research into the subject. 
The reason is that those who are our rulers are afraid that their 
crimes will be documented and become part of the country's history.
This 'history from above' approach excludes common people from the 
historical process. To make matters worse, there is no 
counter-balance, no offsetting 'history from below' approach to 
highlight the role of ordinary people in shaping history. People are 
fed up of reading and listening to out-dated interpretations and 
versions of history which justify all acts of ruling classes and 
project them as heroes while ignore the common people. They are 
interested to know more facts and different points of view to 
understand real history. History needs freedom from ideological grip 
and hold to discover and unfold its narratives.
There are foreign universities where scholars are engaged in research 
work on South Asian history. These universities and their research 
institutes have their own agenda. They select topics that are related 
to their interest and construct our history with their own point of 
view. In absence of our own contribution, students and scholars have 
to study and rely on their work. In this way, we look at our history 
in a mirror fashioned by these scholars.
It is said that whoever controls the past controls the future. We 
might have been liberated from political colonialism but only to 
become being colonized in the field of knowledge. And there is 
nothing worse than colonization of the intellect.
(Concluded)

_____


#9.

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

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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