SACW | 14 July, 2003

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire   |  14 July,  2003

#1. [Women and the Pakistani Political System] Dare to stand (Farzana Bari)
#2. Pakistan: A massacre at a Quetta mosque raises the specter of 
sectarianism in Pakistan 
(Tim Mcgirk)
#3. Pakistan:  Quetta and surplus jihadis (Farrukh Saleem)
#4. India: Ayodhya: A Future Bound by the Past  (Sumanta Banerjee)
#5. India:  Gujarat - Inside A Perfect Unjust World
The Best Bakery case raises dire questions about how fair the other 
riot trials will turn out to be
(Darshan Desai)
#6. Persecution of Ahmadiyas in Islamic Pakistan and Secular India 
(Kunal Ghosh)
#7. India:  Nationwide Kalajatha for Peace, Unity and Sovereignty 
(All India People's Science Network and Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti)


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

#1.

The News International (Pakistan)
July 12, 2003

Dare to stand

Dr Farzana Bari

If you are a woman and that also from working class, and wish to 
claim your space in power structures by challenging the traditional 
local power configuration, the price for doing so is no less than 
risking your life, family and dignity. Zainab Khatoon Malik is paying 
the price for standing against the feudal lords and pirs of Multan 
for submitting her nomination to contest the Zila Nazim seat which 
has been laying vacant since the resignation of Shah Mehmood Qureshi 
in August, 2002 who got elected as Member National Assembly (MNA).

Zainab Khatoon and her family are missing for the last three days. 
She repeatedly reported and informed media, journalists and local 
NGOs about the harassment and intimidation she was made subject to by 
Pir Riaz Hussain Qureshi who is a local landlord and one of the 
candidate for the seat of Zila Nazim. In her statements that appeared 
in local press she mentioned receiving life threats for not 
withdrawing from the candidature.

How a poor woman who has no social and financial capital, whose 
husband hardly earns his living by selling samosa-pakoras can become 
such a threat to the political elite of Multan and made them so 
afraid of her potential success in the run that they felt her removal 
was necessary for their own victory? Often women are not taken 
seriously, as mostly they are no match to male competitors in terms 
of socio-economic and political power. Then why Zainab Kahtoon has 
been taken so seriously by male contestants. Actually it is not 
Zainab Kahtoon but women's power, they are afraid of. Zainab was a 
consensus candidate of Women Councillors Network of Multan, which was 
formed in 2001 with the help of Pattan Development Organisation and 
held its election on August 2002. The current membership of the 
Network consist of more than 200 members, while Zainab enjoyed the 
support of the majority of women councillors whose numerical strength 
is around 750 out of the 2444 councillors. It is the collective voice 
and women solidarity which has shaken the power brokers in the city 
of Multan.

Women councillors belonging to various political factions, parties 
and local groups has come to full realisation that while they had 
been thrown into political arena for whatever political reasons 
unknown to them, they are now there to stay. However, they all share 
a similar experience of lack of support from male dominated political 
parties and government structures. Their common shared experience has 
brought them together. They have figured out that they have to have 
their own power base and constituency in order to be effective in the 
system. So they decided to hold hands and throw their weight behind 
each other. They formed the Network on the basis of their gender 
identity, which transcends their political and socio-economic 
divisions. The Network has emerged as one of the most powerful body 
and a key player in the local politics of Multan. Despite lacking 
financial and political power, women have created their own power 
base by simply coming together.

In the forthcoming election on the seat of Zila Nazim Multan on July 
14, the Network decided to throw its weight behind Zainab Khatoon as 
one of the candidates for the slot. The process and the content of 
Zanaib Khatoon's election campaign which was highly critical of the 
role of male leadership who always betrayed people's cause and raised 
issues to be prioritised that were close to the soul and hearts of 
millions of poor city dwellers of Multan, unnerved candidates like 
Riaz Qureshi despite the full support he was getting from the 
establishment. After his frustrated efforts to bribe and threat 
Zainab Khatoon's, he decided to hijack Zainab's political agenda. 
Interestingly enough the local administration and Naib Nazim Amer 
Dogar, who turned blind eye to violation of women's rights and 
increasing incidents of acid throwing and gang rape in district 
Multan, suddenly start talking about taking stern action against 
those who violate women's rights. Riaz Qureshi has been assuring 
women councillors that he will give top priority to women's cause and 
will allocate "two hours daily" to women's issues. This is the 
beginning of woman power to shape local priorities and set political 
agendas.

The reservation of women's seats and resultantly a large number of 
women in the political arena have unleashed a new social dynamic. 
Women politicians at the local and national level refuse to become 
pawn and are struggling for their presence to be felt in the system. 
It is the social responsibility of the state and civil society 
organisations including political parties to provide support 
protection and personal security to women in politics.

What happens to Zainab Khatoon and her family in this political game 
will have far reaching impact in the arena of Gender and Governance. 
If participation and representation cost women their lives and 
families, there will be few that will be willing to take such grave 
risks. Political participation and representation is a fundamental 
right of women that they should be able to exercise without fear. The 
misogyny of existing political environment is a key factor in 
blocking women politicians to play an effective role in political 
bodies. It is critically important that the government, who has acted 
for the first time on behalf of women by creating political space for 
them through the affirmative action of reserving seats for women in 
formal political structures, should not absolve itself from further 
responsibility of ensuring enabling environment and effective 
participation and representation of women. Women's personal security 
in politics is the most important element of enabling environment.

Zainab Khatoon who dared to contest on general seats of Nazim which 
is a male prerogative must be protected by all from paying the heavy 
price otherwise future generation of women will be discouraged to 
step in the dangerous zone of politics. Zainab Khatoon is a test case 
for the state and the society, our failure to uphold her right to 
political participation and representation and to her personal 
security and dignity will be the failure of humanity and social 
justice. We must not leave her alone in her struggle to exercise her 
fundamental right to power sharing.

The writer is acting director, Centre for Women's Studies, 
Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad


_____


#2.

Time Asia Edition
July 14, 2003 / Vol. 161 No. 27

Notebook | Pakistan
A Prayer Before Dying
A massacre at a Quetta mosque raises the specter of sectarianism in Pakistan=
 
BY TIM MCGIRK/ISLAMABAD

Grief and rage in a Quetta hospital, following a massacre at a local 
mosque which killed at least 47 people

Pakistan is all too familiar with sectarian violence, but the 
massacre in Quetta's Ishnam Asheri mosque, the worst act of its kind 
since the mid-'90s, was horrifying even by South Asia's gruesome 
standards. Thousands of worshipers were performing their Friday 
prayers when two gunmen burst in and fired into the crowd for 10 
minutes, pausing only to reload. Outside the mosque, a third man, 
wired with explosives, walked into a cluster of worshipers and blew 
himself up. By the time police dispatched the gunmen, 47 people were 
dead and 65 wounded. Police defused two more bombs that could have 
killed hundreds more. Suspicion quickly fell on an offshoot of the 
banned Sunni radical group, Sipah-e-Sabah, whose preachers denounce 
Shi'ites as infidels and whose members have been accused of murdering 
Shi'ite doctors and lawyers. Police also believe that this group 
helped al-Qaeda carry out two suicide bombings last year in 
Karachi-on May 8 against a bus carrying French naval technicians, and 
on June 8 against the U.S. consulate.

Sectarianism leaves ugly psychological scars, promulgating waves of 
violence. After the Quetta attack, enraged Shi'ites set fire to 
vehicles, banks and hospitals. City officials said Shi'ites also beat 
a Sunni student to death. President Pervez Musharraf was in Paris 
when he heard the news, winding up a trip to America and Europe 
during which he'd been showered with praise for his role in the war 
against terror. Constituents at home, especially in the restive 
provinces bordering Afghanistan, are less likely to give him such a 
warm welcome. Each terror attack on home soil can also be interpreted 
as an attack by extremists on Musharraf's government and his 
pro-Western stance. "We have to act very strong against them," 
Musharraf said of the Quetta killers. "It is unfortunate that this 
small minority is able to derail or undermine national feelings." If 
Musharraf cannot tame them, Pakistan might enter a period when even 
praying is dangerous.

--With reporting by Ghulam Hasnain/Karachi

_____


#3.

The News International (Pakistan)
Sunday July 13, 2003

Quetta and surplus jihadis

Dr Farrukh Saleem

On 25 December 1979, Leonid Brezhnev sent in troops to invade 
Afghanistan. Within two days the Red Army had secured Kabul. On 21 
January 1980, US President James E Carter made his State of the Union 
Address. The Carter Administration had identified Pakistan as a 
"Front-line state" in America's global struggle against Communism.

At the heart of America's struggle against Communism was the CIA plan 
to destabilise the Soviet Union through the spread of Islamic 
fanaticism across Muslim Central Asian Soviet republics. Between 1980 
and 1989, CIA poured in some $6 billion (other estimates go as high 
as $20 billion) in arms, ammunition, recruiting, establishing an 
extensive madrassa network, training, feeding and arming of recruits. 
Saudi Arabia matched the US dollar-for-dollar. Wealthy Arabs poured 
in additional millions. Egypt and China also helped out.

In 1980, Prince Turki al-Faisal, the then head of Istakhbarat, Saudi 
Arabia's secret service, handpicked Osama bin Laden to provide 
engineering and organisational help to the fighting Mujahideen in 
Afghanistan. Osama was provided hundreds of millions with which he 
bought heavy construction equipment from Saudi Arabia destined for 
Afghanistan's guerrilla camps.

Ronald Reagan took over the White House on 20 January 1981. The 
game-plan then revolved around the production of a hundred thousand 
religious fanatics to fight the 'godless Russians'. In 1979 an 
estimate on the total number of madrassas stood at around 1,000. Most 
of these madrassas concentrated on the formal instruction of Islamic 
theology. Between 1983 and 1988, CIA aid had helped establish an 
additional 1,891 madrassas. The new ones doubled as guerrilla 
training camps producing an average of at least fifty battle-ready 
alumni a year. That's roughly a hundred thousand Mujahideen a year. 
Osama bin Laden on his own is estimated to have recruited, financed 
and trained an additional 35,000 non-Afghans.

By 1984, the University of Nebraska, through a $51 million USAID 
grant, joined the Mujahideen war against the Red Army. The 
University's Centre for Afghanistan Studies produced literature in 
Pashtu and Dari indoctrinating Afghan children with fanaticism and 
bigotry. According to The Washington Post of 23 March 2003, Afghan 
children were "taught to count with illustrations showing tanks, 
missiles and land mines." In Qur'aanic lessons, Mujahideen were shown 
the path to heaven by killing a handful of 'godless Russians'.

US-run Radio Liberty and Radio free Europe were set up to beam 
Islamic fundamentalist tirades across Central Asia (in 1991, a US 
federal appeals court ruling against USAID ruled that taxpayers 
dollars cannot be used to supply materials that are religious). 
Between 1982 and 1989, a hundred thousand non-afghans -- including 
Egyptians, Algerians, Palestinians, and Saudis -- were indoctrinated 
and trained at Pakistani madrassas to fight the Russians in 
Afghanistan. At the peak of the Afghan war some 50,000 Muslim 
radicals from 43 countries were fighting the Russians.

Mikhail Gorbachev ordered the Red Army out of Afghanistan. The last 
Soviet soldier walked out of Afghanistan on 15 February 1989. 
Interestingly, between 1982 and 1989, while the CIA was in league 
with the Mujahideen, Afghan opium production ballooned from 250 tons 
in 1982 to 2,000 tons in 1989.

By 1992, the Najibullah Government had fallen and the Mujahideen had 
captured Kabul. With the Soviets gone there was an instant jihadi 
surplus of more than a couple of hundred thousand war hardened 
bullies who had brought the second most powerful nation on the face 
of the planet down to its knees. Ronald Reagan had taught Pakistani 
generals the fine art of jihad (The Washington Post, "From US, the 
ABC's of Jihad"; March 2002). The jihadi surplus was released away 
from Pakistan in the direction of Kashmir. Other destinations 
included Bosnia, Chechnya, Tajikistan, the Philippines and parts of 
the Middle East. The 'global village' feels that there is a link 
between Afghanistan-Pakistan combine and the persistent fighting in 
south-eastern Europe, south-western Russia, western Pacific Ocean and 
Central Asia.

Srinagar has kept some of the jihadi surplus busy for the past 11 
years. Engagements in Karakorum, Kargil and Xingjiang have also kept 
jihadis occupied. The number of madrassas, however, has kept on 
surging even after the capture of Kabul in 1992. In 1947, for 
instance, Pakistan had 245 madrassas. In 1989, the overall estimate 
was under 2,000. By the year 2000, our Ministry of Interior had 
enumerated 6,761 madrassas. In 2001, one hundred and nine more 
madrassas were added (while the total number of madrassas has not 
decreased since September 11 the number of foreign students at these 
madrassas has gone down sharply).

Before Camp David, the Kashmir release valve was shut down. One 24 
June 2003, we committed to keep the valve shut down for good. One 
that is not at peace with the world ought not expect peace within. On 
July 4, came the attack on the Quetta imambargah. Our jihadi surplus 
-- both in manpower and infrastructure -- exploded in our midst.

Was it Dr Henry Frankenstein, the mad, obsessed scientist, who 
experimentally created a soulless monster? The monster somehow begins 
to terrorise the entire Bavarian countryside. The doctor tries to 
tame his own creation. Ultimately, the monster starts destroying 
everything that his creator loved. The doctor then tries to raze his 
own creation.

_____


#3.

The News International (Pakistan)
July 14, 2003

Indian delegation leaves for home

By our correspondent

KARACHI: The 15-member youth peace delegation from India headed home on Sund=
ay.

"It was a very successful visit and we look forward to further 
exchanges," said group co-ordinator, Ragni Kidwai, a 17-year old 
Pakistani student.

" Another member, a young student from Bombay, Rashmi Bhure, added, 
"After meeting Pakistani students for the first time and knowing 
them, I feel that differences should be understood."

The students spent 10 days together and discussed the role that the 
youth can play to reduce tension between the two countries.

Youth Initiative for Peace, a year-old organisation with an objective 
to promote sustainable peace in the subcontinent has members from 
both India and Pakistan.

The group conceived the idea of a trip to Karachi to promote peace 
through interaction between the youths of the two nations during 
their meeting in Singapore last year.

"The visit has changed my opinion about Pakistanis," said Harmus 
Masani, a student from Nasik, India. "Before coming here I had 
different opinions about Pakistanis but now I can say that they are 
my best friends," he added.

These youth also participated in dance, music, film and arts 
projects. Their time together resulted in a documentary film "Bus," a 
10-minute long film about their time onboard (in the bus) and the 
discussions, arguments and confrontations that take place as they try 
to map out a way towards peace between India and Pakistan. The film 
ends with all of the youth disembarking from the bus, holding hands. 
"The purpose of the film is just to show that the people of the two 
countries can work together even in the shortest possible time," said 
Lalita Ram Das, 60, who came with the delegation from India.

"I feel I am leaving friends not enemies (behind)," said Sikandar 
Gopal, another student from Bombay, as he prepared to return home.


_____


#4.

Economic and Political Weekly (India)
July 5, 2003
Commentary

Ayodhya: A Future Bound by the Past

=46earful of an adverse judicial verdict, L K Advani, Murli Manohar 
Joshi, Uma Bharti and others of their ilk are now keen on an 
out-of-court settlement of the Ayodhya dispute which will put an end 
to the court cases against them. But the rest of the country should 
keep in mind two considerations. First, a settlement with the 'Sangh 
parivar' leaders can never be relied upon. Secondly, such 
a settlement will be at the cost of granting immunity to those 
guilty of the demolition of the Babri mosque and all the ensuing 
hatred and bloodshed.

Sumanta Banerjee

If it were not for its destructive potentialities, the mandir-masjid 
dispute could have been turned into a comic story of religious 
madness harnessed by political expediency and ending in a hilarious 
display of all-embracing hypocrisy. It would have survived in popular 
legends only. But modern Indian politicians have the habit of 
allowing a contentious issue to drag on like a running sore as long 
as it feeds their diabolical appetite, while the country bleeds to 
death - whether it is Kashmir or Ayodhya.

The latest actors in the mandir-masjid dispute, ranging from the 
media savvy Kanchi Shankaracharya to the All-India Muslim Personal 
Law Board (AIMPLB), are scrambling for the best roles that they can 
grab in the next stage of the Ayodhya drama. Now with the campaign 
for the four assembly elections towards the end of this year gaining 
momentum, and acting as a run-up to the Lok Sabha polls early next 
year, the Ayodhya dispute has entered a crucial stage. While the 
cases on the title suits, and against the accused in the masjid 
demolition and Bombay blasts are dragging on, the excavations ordered 
by the court and carried out by the Archaeological Society of India 
have not yet yielded any concrete evidence to prove the existence of 
any temple on the site. The BJP therefore finds itself on a sticky 
wicket. If it can manage to come to some sort of an out-of-court deal 
with the Muslim religious heads that would allow it to build the 
temple on the site of the demolition, in exchange of a few 
concessions to the Muslims, it can revive its flagging influence on 
the Hindu voters, as well as increase the number of Muslim recruits 
of the types of Shahnawaz Hussain (a minister in the present 
government) and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (the BJP spokesman) for its 
campaign in the next elections. Under its blessings, the Kanchi 
Shankaracharya has jumped into the fray with a formula which he is 
trying to sell to the AIMPLB.

But this has made the members of the Sangh parivar bring out their 
'trishuls' against each other. The VHP leaders are pretty hot under 
their saffron robes, as they feel that they are being ousted from the 
helm of the chariot of Hindutva. They are breathing fire against 
Vajpayee whom they regard a softie, while appealing to their 
knight-errant, the 'lauha purush' Advani not to come to any deal with 
the Muslim clergy that would allow them to build a mosque near the 
disputed site, offer 'namaz' in protected monuments, and give up the 
claims of the Hindu clergy to Kashi and Mathura. The ranks of the 
Hindutva brigade also are not too happy with the BJP ministers. They 
are realising that they are being offered as the sacrificial goats 
for prosecution in the Babri masjid demolition case, while those who 
masterminded the demolition like Advani, Uma Bharti and Murli Manohar 
Joshi are getting away scot-free. At least five among the 49 kar 
sevaks accused of the demolition and now facing trial before a 
special CBI court have now turned their ire from the mosque to their 
leaders. Speaking to the press on June 7, they claimed that it was 
Advani and other senior BJP leaders who instigated them to pull down 
the structure on that fateful December 6 of 1992. But now, they 
alleged, these leaders had managed to get their cases separated from 
the rest, and were getting special treatment. They, the 
cannon-fodder, who were used by the 'Sangh parivar' on that day 
cannot be blamed, since while they have to appear every now and then 
before the CBI court, Advani, Uma Bharti, Joshi and other top leaders 
among the accused are being granted exemption from personal 
appearance on a regular basis by the same CBI court. The five accused 
have quite rightly demanded that the court should treat all on par.

The other person who seems determined to queer the BJP's electoral 
pitch is the renegade from the 'parivar', Kalyan Singh. Having been a 
part of the entire plot to demolish the mosque during his tenure as 
chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, he was privy to the roles played by 
Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and others. He is now threatening to 
squeal on his ex-comrades by spilling the beans - which would 
jeopardise the BJP's latest electoral strategy of coming to some sort 
of terms with the Muslim religious leaders.

As the 'trishuls' in the Hindu religious camp are being sharpened to 
settle scores among its members, daggers are being drawn among the 
Muslim religious leaders also to target rivals within their camp. 
They are divided over the stand to be taken on the latest compromise 
formula. Are the differences rooted to the Shia-Sunni dispute among 
the Muslim religious leaders? Let us remember that the main plaintiff 
in the Ayodhya title suit is the Central Sunni Waqf Board. The Shia 
community had remained more or less indifferent to the dispute. The 
Sunni Waqf Board has consistently stuck to two positions - one, 
opposition to any negotiated settlement outside the courts; and two, 
acceptance of any court verdict, whether it favoured it or not. 
Unlike the VHP which has repeatedly made it clear that it would not 
respect any court judgment that may go against its belief that the 
site of the Babri masjid is the birthplace of Ram, the Muslim 
plaintiff announced its adherence to the Indian Constitution and 
acceptance of whatever verdict that the court may deliver. The other 
Muslim party to the dispute is the AIMPLB, whose members are divided 
in their response to the Shankaracharya's formula.

While some are in favour of an out-of-court settlement on the basis 
of a compromise, others oppose it.

As far as the general Muslim response is concerned, it is a defeatist 
attitude inclined towards any sacrifice or agreement at whatever 
cost, that would buy them the guarantee (however fragile) of some 
sort of peace from the Hindu goons who rule the country. This is 
understandable. The Muslim community has been let down by the secular 
political parties ranging from the Congress to the Communists who 
during the last crucial decades had failed to mount any offensive 
against the onrush of the 'Sangh parivar'-led Hindu fanatical 
campaign, and provide protection to the minorities from its murderous 
assaults. It seems that the BJP on the other hand has succeeded in 
softening up the morale of Muslim intellectuals, by the application 
of a judicious mixture of terrorisation and cajoling. It is pathetic 
to watch even sections of Muslim progressive intellectuals veering 
towards the BJP-sponsored compromise formula.

All through these current reports and speculations about out-of-court 
negotiations and deals, as well as legal arguments and debates in the 
courts and before commissions, there are two things that stand out. 
One, the hypocrisy of the BJP leaders, and two, their sneaking 
attempts to escape legal punishment through some sort of out-of-court 
settlement. Take, for instance deputy prime minister Advani who seems 
to suffer from selective amnesia whenever he is asked to give 
evidence before the CBI court or the Liberhan Commission. It was this 
gentleman, in his role as the president of the BJP, who launched the 
notorious 'rath yatra' in 1990. At the height of the anti-Mandal 
Commission agitation, which saw the BJP gradually estranging itself 
from the National Front government, Advani cast himself in the role 
of a modern Shankaracharya pretending to unite entire India under the 
hegemony of Hinduism, and started his 'rath yatra' from Somnath 
temple to Ayodhya at the end of September in 1990. But it was not a 
simple peaceful demonstration for the building of a temple. He carved 
it with murderous edges that continue to rip apart our society. The 
points of both embarkation and disembarkation chosen by Advani for 
his 'rath yatra' are significant. Both are associated with historical 
memories of Muslim invasion. His speeches accompanying the 'rath 
yatra' reinforced the communal divide between Hindus and Muslims by 
reviving old hatreds. He whipped up a frenzy among Hindus all over 
the country with his slogan: 'Kasam Ram ki khate hain, Mandir wahin 
banayenge', urging his party's kar sevaks to build the temple on the 
same spot as the mosque. It was this that led up to the demolition of 
the masjid on December 6, 1992. All his public speeches made during 
this period, and the trail of killings of Muslims left behind by his 
'rath yatra' are fully recorded in contemporary newspapers. Yet, 
today, when faced by the courts and judicial commissions, he feigns 
ignorance. He has the cheek to deny all responsibility and make the 
preposterous statement before the Liberhan Commission, "=8Anot a single 
riot or violence took place anywhere during my 'rath yatra'=8A". To 
save his skin, he is trying his best to dissociate himself from the 
violence that he provoked during the 'rath yatra' and the Babri 
masjid demolition. An out-of-court settlement that will put an end to 
the court cases pending against him, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti 
and others of his ilk would therefore suit them best. Like Musharraf 
of Pakistan who after having aided the Islamic terrorists in 
Afghanistan promptly ditched them fearing US retaliation after 
September 11, Advani also, fearful of an adverse judicial verdict, is 
now willing to dump his cadres in the 'Sangh parivar' whom he rallied 
to demolish the mosque.

A negotiated settlement of the mandir-masjid dispute is all the rage 
now. Well-meaning people both among Hindus and Muslims, in a 
desperate bid to put an end to the dispute once and for all, seem to 
be taken in by the various formulae being floated around for an 
out-of-court settlement. But they should be cautious about two 
possibilities. First, a settlement with the 'Sangh parivar' leaders 
who include the BJP ministers can never be relied upon. After all, it 
was these leaders who gave assurances to the Supreme Court, and 
violated them on December 6, and have yet managed to become 
ministers. Given the history of judicial procrastination on the 
mandir-masjid dispute during the last 50 years (the first petition in 
the case was filed on January 16, 1950 in the court of civil judge at 
=46aizabad, which is still pending!), we cannot depend on any effective 
and prompt judicial verdict if the Sangh parivar decides to violate 
the terms of the settlement tomorrow. Secondly, what is more 
important is that such a settlement should not be at the cost of 
granting immunity to those who had been guilty of the demolition of 
the Babri mosque. Purely from humanitarian concerns, the victims of 
Advani's 'rath yatra' should get justice. Should those who unleashed 
the worst communal passions since the 1946-47 massacres in the 
subcontinent, which are still to be doused, remain unpunished, and 
emerge as ministers after the next general elections?


_____


#5.

Outlook Magazine | July 21, 2003    

GUJARAT
Inside A Perfect Unjust World
The Best Bakery case raises dire questions about how fair the other 
riot trials will turn out to be
DARSHAN DESAI

It was a bombshell in itself. And it also served as a rude wake-up 
call that put a question mark on all post-Godhra riot cases on trial. 
When Zaheera Shaikh, a key witness in the Best Bakery case in 
Vadodara, publicly stated last week that she had lied in court under 
threat to her life, it triggered waves of outrage. The National Human 
Right Commission (NHRC), acting a bit belatedly, rushed a team to 
re-examine the case. Rights groups demanded that all riot-related 
investigations be handed over to the cbi. It was suggested that the 
cases be tried outside Gujarat. But even as the world cried foul, the 
state government showed no signs of taking a second look at the Best 
Bakery trial.

	Muslims are on the run, literally. From village to village, 
in urban ghettos, wherever they can merge with the crowd.

The precedent set by this case will be crucial, for a spate of riot 
cases are due for fast-track trial all over Gujarat. These will 
unfold in the shadow of some serious political cut and thrust and an 
acute focus on the post-riots justice delivery in the state. In

between the pious words, stinging recriminations and swirl of events 
much larger than him stands the lonely figure of the ordinary riot 
victim.
Pulled apart by conflicting pressures, the predicament of the riot 
victims, especially those listed as witnesses, is unenviable. The 
average Muslim believes the state machinery, including the police, is 
against the community. The prosecution lawyers are not keen to fight 
these cases. In the absence of any safety net whatsoever, the only 
option for those who filed complaints is to withdraw or be prepared 
to suffer. Like Zaheera, who chose the safety of her family over 
pursuing justice.
But in the wake of Zaheera's recanting and the subsequent acquittals, 
their dilemma has been deepened by the pressure from human rights 
groups and liberals from outside the state, who want them to hang in 
and make sure the guilty are brought to book. It's a stance that's 
beyond reproach in a legalistic sense, but it puts the onus of 
winning the battle on the victim without any clear-eyed appreciation 
of the fear, distrust and helplessness that is lived out on the 
ground.
Unambiguous signals on where they stand come, for one, from the 
establishment. The unstated message going out to the Muslims is: 
heads you lose, tails you lose. Last week advocate Avadhoot Suman 
took the lead in filing a contempt of court case against NHRC 
chairman Justice A.S. Anand for calling the Best Bakery verdict "a 
miscarriage of justice". He was promptly rewarded: by being appointed 
public prosecutor in Vadodara. Many Muslims who've filed cases 
complain that several government-appointed prosecution lawyers are 
VHP-Bajrang Dal sympathisers.
Scepticism about how far the NHRC can help in providing protection to 
witnesses is one thing. To add to the psychological pressure, the 
VHP-Bajrang Dal-BJP has been evoking last year's electoral sweep. 
Their take on Best Bakery is that the more the NHRC and the media 
accuse the Narendra Modi government of fixing the witnesses in the 
case, the stronger his brand of Hindutva will get-a none too subtle 
hint at next year's Lok Sabha elections. Ever since the 21 accused in 
the torching of the bakery which left 14 dead were acquitted by a 
Vadodara sessions court, the anti-Muslim pitch has only gone up. In 
any case, very few Muslims expect a retrial and fewer still believe 
the final outcome would be any different.
Other indicators come from the hinterland. Rural Gujarat offers a 
litany of examples of how justice is denied. The story of Medina of 
Eral village in Panchmahals is even worse than Zaheera Shaikh's.
She says seven of her family members were brutally killed. The main 
complainant and key witness to the murders, Medina today lives with 
another woman Sultana, a rape victim, in a rented room in Kaalol 
town. She has been threatened that she will be allowed to return to 
her village only if she withdraws her complaint.Says Medina: "They 
send messengers, who first come with offers of money. They explain 
the futility of a court case. If we do not yield, they threaten us."
Her 17-year-old daughter Shabana too was raped during the riots. 
"Those men, who were our neighbours and friends, caught hold of my 
daughter. She was begging them for mercy. But they raped her one 
after the other. They also raped my niece and sister-in-law." Medina 
recounts her tale, exactly as she had done before a court in November.
In Medina's case an fir and chargesheet was registered. A few arrests 
were also made but the seven persons she identified are officially 
declared to be absconding. Which is a euphemism for saying they are 
roaming free. "I see them in the village, they continue to threaten 
me and other witnesses. I am terrified," Medina says.
Her experience in court also doesn't inspire her with any confidence. 
In fact, she says she is depressed every time she comes back from a 
hearing. She remembers the humiliation she was subjected to last 
month when she deposed. The court was jampacked with people sporting 
saffron headbands. The dingy courtroom was overflowing with over 100 
people. Many waited in the corridor.
As she spoke, there were smirks, boos and rude remarks hurled at her, 
especially when she told the court about the rapes. While several 
comments are unprintable, one that evoked laughter was "majaa-nou 
maal hato" (What a well-endowed woman she is). Medina recalls she was 
too numb to react. Even the prosecution lawyer fighting her case 
raised no objections. Of course, comments like "jootha chhe" (they 
are liars) and "natak karey chhe" (they are putting up an act) are 
thrown frequently at witnesses. Many break down in court.
Then there is Yunusbhai from Delol village, who has seen as many as 
13 people, including his wife Zubeida and 12-year-old son Rizwan, 
being hacked to death and then torched. He no longer stays in his 
village and has rented a single room in Kaalol town. Says Yunusbhai: 
"I went several times to the police station to lodge a complaint. But 
they said they will register the fir on the condition that I do not 
include the names of the perpetrators of the crime who were all 
familiar faces to me. Finally the police did include their names in 
the chargesheet."
Yunusbhai's eyewitness account is part of a collective fir clubbing 
three different incidents of rioting. And it maps a trajectory 
similar to the others. Those named by him as the accused have also 
been declared 'absconders' by the police. Later, they were granted 
anticipatory bail. Yunusbhai is now threatened by those he has 
accused and is told that he won't be allowed back in the village till 
he drops the charges. "They have even offered me money, but I will 
not drop the case," he says. Yunusbhai regularly complains to the 
police about the threats, but he says no one is willing to listen.
Not just riot victims and witnesses, hundreds of ordinary Muslim 
families are too scared to return to their homes even today. They 
either shift from one village to another or put up with relatives. 
Many have rented rooms in district towns, preferring the relative 
security of its ghettoised Muslim enclaves. Others have simply fled 
Gujarat.
There are approximately 8,000 people from different villages who are 
camping in Godhra town's Muslim quarters, besides hundreds others who 
are living in Kaalol and Haalol. This is true of other districts 
which saw intense rioting last year. According to police officials, 
many Muslims feel safer in a town where they can merge with locals 
and not be identified. There are 700 families camping in Himmatnagar. 
Many more are in other towns like Idar, Modasa and smaller towns like 
Vadali and Sabli in north Gujarat.Similarly, hundreds of Muslims have 
shifted to small towns in Kheda and Anand districts of central 
Gujarat. Points out political scientist Achyut Yagnik: "There are two 
dangerous trends in Gujarat today. One is the communal polarisation, 
though less visible than during the riots, and another is rural 
ghettoisation."
The effect on forthcoming cases is a moot question as many witnesses 
have moved house with no forwarding address. Many have simply given 
up on the complaints they registered. While human rights groups were 
active in the few months after the riots, many of the witnesses were 
subsequently left to fend for themselves. Many say they are too weary 
and afraid to put up a fight. Says Yagnik: "Yes, the communal 
polarisation will strengthen because of the wave of protests in the 
wake of the Best Bakery case. It is an irony that the fight for 
justice, which has to continue, might help those responsible for the 
injustice." There are hundreds of terror tales in Gujarat needing 
thousands of pages to record. There are very few who are bothered.
"Peace without justice is possible only in a graveyard," bemoans Prof 
J.S. Bandukwala, a liberal Muslim voice. "It is time Narendra Modi 
understood this. I appeal to him to come and talk to us. Let us start 
life afresh, let us forget the past, let us get Gujarat back to where 
it was. The people in Gujarat have suffered a lot, both Hindus and 
Muslims have suffered, all of Gujarat has suffered." Perhaps, given 
the way that an entire community has been demonised, Bandukwala is 
hoping against hope.
So, what will Best Bakery-II be like, if at all it comes to pass? The 
phalanx of police, public prosecutors, the defence counsel and the 
thugs who threaten will be the same. Or else, legal precedent will 
have to be set in moving out the case.

_____


#6.

Mainstream (India)
July 12, 2003

Persecution of Ahmadiyas in Islamic Pakistan and Secular India

Kunal Ghosh

The Ahmadiyas, alternatively called Qadianis, of Kanpur are in panic 
and for a good reason, apropos "Panicked Qadianis Seek Security", 
Hindustan Times, Lucknow, May 15, 2003, page 3.
The Ahmadiyas are a Islamic sect who derive their ame from a 
nineteenth century holy man of Punjab, named Mirza Ghulam Ahmad 
Qadiani (1835-1908). Other Muslims object to two central tenets of 
the Ahmadiyas; first, the almost prophet-like status of their master 
Ahmad Qadiani; second, the Ahmadiya belief that all religions of the 
world including Hinduism are valid religion. There may be other 
theological differences. The Ahmadiya protestation that in no sense 
they doubt the primary and the holiness of Prophet Mohammad does not 
impress either the Sunnis or the Shias. The Ahmadiyas have been a 
persecuted lot in Islamic Pakistan right from the birth of that 
state. What is remarkable is that they face persecution in India too, 
although the latter is a secular state. And what is even more 
remarkable is that their persecution in India mirrors the trend in 
Pakistan to a large extent.
Ahmadiyas are a modern educated community and their me have often 
occupied exalted positions. Professor Abdus Salam, who won the Nobel 
Prize in Physics in 1979, is an Ahmadiya. Muhammad Zafrullah Khan, 
Pakistan's first Foreign Minister ad hand-picked by Mohammad Ali 
Jinnah, was a Ahmadiya. And that led to his undoing. He was hounded 
out of the establishment because he was an Ahmadiya. The 
anti-Ahmadiya riots of 1953 rocked the nascent democracy of Pakistan 
and paved the way for a military takeover. Yet, General Ayub Khan 
with his Martial Law was afraid to carry out the death sentence 
against Maulana Maududi for his proven role in the anti-Ahmadiya 
pogrom. It should be recalled that Maududi was the chief ideologue of 
the Deobandi Maslak of those days. The threat that the Ahmadiyas of 
Kanpur perceive today also comes from the Deobandis, if newspaper 
reports are to be believed. More about that later.
Soon after he came to power after the 1971 Indo-Pak war, Zulfikar Ali 
Bhutto amended the Constitution of Pakistan to brand the Ahmadiyas 
non-Muslim. When General Zia-ul Haq seized power, the Ahmadiyas were 
barred from issuing the Muslim prayer call, Azan, from their mosques. 
I recall an episode in Kanpur of the early 1990s when Mulayam Singh 
Yadav was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. A young Ahmadiya girl 
had committed suicide. Her funeral procession reached the burial 
ground only to find its path blocked by a violent Sunni mob. The 
ostensible reason offered was simple; Pakistan had declared the 
Ahmadiyas as un-Islamic and hence they had no right to a Muslim 
burial ground. That India still considered them Muslim was of no 
consequence. The Mulayam Singh Government of Uttar Pradesh dared not 
enforce the Indian law and found a alternative burial site for the 
Ahmadiyas post haste. In effect, a Pakistani law was enforced on 
Indian soil.
On May 14, 2003, on the eve of the birth anniversary of Prophet 
Mohammad, the Ahmadiya leaders of Kanpur met the District Magistrate 
and the Senior Superintendent of Police, appraised them of an 
impending threat and sought security. They are shaken over a proposed 
and much-publicised campaign of an organisation called Jamiat Ulema 
of the Sunni Deobandi Muslims. To quote Hindustan Times (ibid.),
The Jamiat Ulema's frontal organisation, espousing the campaign 
against the Qadianis (Ahmadiyas), Majlis Khatam-e-Nabbuwat has 
organised a training camp for the Muslim clerics and a public meeting 
over this issue. Around 300 delegates from 18 districts would attend 
a three-day camp beginning from May 22 here (Kanpur). The organisers 
would elaborate the perceptible threat the Qadianis (Ahmadiyas) pose 
to the religion as a whole...... The clergy would be trained in a 
manner to uproot the Qadianis from the domain of Deobandis....... 'We 
fear attacks following the campaign', said the district president of 
the Ahmadiya Jammat, Mohammad Shoeb Soleja.
The Ahmadiyas are a minority among India's Muslims. Their persecution 
by the Sunni majority as yet is not as intense as in Pakistan. But 
the portends are ominous, the trends are disturbing and reflect the 
events in Pakistan.


 	 
_____


#7.

Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003

Dear Friends,

The All India People's Science Network and Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti 
(AIPSN/BGVS) is facilitating the Nationwide Kalajatha for Peace, 
Unity and Sovereignty from September 8 to October 2, 2003.

The attached folder provides a background to this initiative. This is 
to invite you and your organisation to actively participate in this 
massive effort. About 60 jathas will travel through remote parts of 
about 26 states during this period. Most of the work will be done at 
the state level, and BGVS state units with AIPSN member organisations 
are facilitating the tasks at state levels. 

We await to hear from you and seek your solidarity and participation.

In peace and with fraternal greetings,

Vinod Raina
Secretary, BGVS              

Gautam Ray
Secretary, AIPSN

KK Krishna Kumar
Jatha Convenor

o o o

Nationwide Jathas for Peace, Unity and Sovereignty

September 8 to October 2, 2003

facilitated by

All India People's Science Network and
Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti

YWA Hostel No.2, G-Block
Saket, New Delhi 110017
Email: bgvs@vsnl.net
Phones: 26569773/26569943


=46rom Darkness to Light - through Reason, Plurality and Togetherness

If we look around today it is tempting to say that the forces of 
darkness are winning all over - in our villages, in our towns, in our 
country, across the globe. Iraq and Gujarat are but two examples of 
this apparent triumph of evil over good. There seem to be so many 
other such examples. While food piles up in our granaries, 24 crore 
people sleep hungry in our country every day. They eat poisonous 
berries to survive and we are told that the people of India do not 
know what to eat! There are twice as many in other parts of the world 
who face hunger every day. While the imperial powers led by the US 
wage war and threaten nations with impunity sovereign nations are 
bludgeoned into silence. While starvation and death stalks our 
villages, fellow human beings hate and kill each other in the name of 
religion and caste.

While famine looms large over the poor nations of the world, just 
three people in this world have wealth that is more than the combined 
wealth of the 60 poorest countries in this world. This is evil 
accumulation by any standard or yardstick. The world's 225 richest 
people have a combined wealth of over $1 trillion, an amount equal to 
the annual income of the poorest 47% of the world's people or 2.5 
billion individuals. The market value of Bill Gates' Microsoft 
touched $507 billion, about Rs. 21,92,267 crore - a value that is 
much higher than India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of about Rs. 
17,70,000 crores. The cost for providing Basic Health and Nutrition 
for every person in the world is estimated at  $13 billion while the 
amount spent on Pet Foods in Europe and the USA is $17 billion. It is 
truly a strange world we live in!

But darkness and evil are passing phases that this world of ours has 
seen so often in the past. Only to be banished by light and reason. 
While the US waged war on Iraq, millions marched on the streets of 
New York, Los Angles, Paris, London, Rome, Barcelona, Berlin, 
Calcutta and in so many other places - we witnessed the largest 
resurgence of protest against war and hatred ever in the history of 
humankind. While Gujarat burnt every person in India with a semblance 
of faith in humanity hung her or his head in shame. Many among them 
extended their arms to embrace the wailing victims in Gujarat. No, we 
are not alone. In fact they are alone - they who seek to divide, to 
spread hatred, to accumulate wealth so that others die. As Arundhati 
Roy said at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in 2003, "they be 
few and we be many".

If it is so, if we the forces of light and reason, are so 
overwhelmingly larger in numbers, why do they succeed today in their 
evil designs? It is because they are one and we are still divided. 
Can we come together? Come together with all our differences, in fact 
make our differences our strength? The People Science Movement 
believes that we can. We can come together, with the common purpose 
of beating back the forces of darkness. Many amongst us will have 
thought of different paths to reach the same goal - let us come 
together while retaining our beliefs in these paths.

It is to help this process of coming together that the Peoples 
Science Movement has conceived the nationwide Jatha on Peace, Unity, 
and Sovereignty. For us the Jatha is not a beginning, neither is it 
an end. The Jatha for us is a reassertion and public articulation of 
our beliefs that have been the driving force in all our activities. 
Our activities in literacy and education, in health, in promotion of 
science and self-reliant development, have all been premised in the 
belief in the three pillars of peace, unity and sovereignty.

What do we mean by Peace? Not the peace of the graveyard. Not the 
peace that allows suffering to exist harmoniously with opulence. Not 
the peace that is enforced by tanks, and bombs and military might. 
=46or us peace means an environment where every culture, every 
language, every human expression has a place. Where these different 
strands, these beautiful melodies can all be heard clearly, 
completely. For us peace means an environment for fulfilling the 
potential of each human being.

Who shall fight for this? Not those who benefit from conflict. But 
what about us? Can we fight for peace without unity? Can we unite for 
peace? The Peoples Science Movement thinks that we can, and we must. 
Because Unity is a natural state for human beings. Only those who are 
diseased do not seek human company, togetherness. No individual, or 
group has achieved greatness by working alone, in isolation. Unity 
for us does not mean discarding our beliefs, our ways of life, our 
cultures, our languages. Unity for us means recognition of all these 
differences in a pattern that knits together for the common progress 
of all humankind. A pattern with thousands of colours is immensely 
more beautiful than one which has just one.

We do not wish to just come together, we wish to come together for 
the purpose of creating a new world. We do believe that Another World 
is Possible, and Necessary. The building of this world has to start, 
not tomorrow, but today, it has to start now. If we are to start 
translating this dream to a reality we also need to unleash the 
immense potential of every child, woman and man on this planet. What 
is preventing the harnessing of this potential? Is a child born in 
Kalahandi less talented than one born in Delhi? Is a woman born 
inferior to man? Does caste or religion have to decide what we become 
in life? Do governments of a few countries in North America and 
Europe have the right to decide about the fate of 6 billion people on 
this planet? The People Science Movement believes that human 
potential can be freed of its artificial fetters if decisions that 
affect our daily lives voice the concerns and the aspirations of 
every person in our midst - right uptil the most marginalised, the 
voiceless. This for us is Sovereignty. Sovereignty for us is the 
ability of nations to take decisions free of fear of retaliation from 
imperialism. But not just that. Sovereignty for us is also the 
ability of communities - no matter how small or how marginalised 
today -- to participate, to contribute and to mould decision-making 
processes. Sovereignty for us means that decision on apple prices in 
Himachal, or coconut prices in Kerala, or sugarcane prices in U.P. 
will not be taken in the WTO in Washington. Sovereignty for us means 
that decisions to privatise our public services - water, electricity 
- are not taken to satisfy George Bush or Tony Blair. Sovereignty 
also means that children do not have to read text books whose 
contents are decided upon by a few people sitting in Delhi, based on 
narrow sectarian considerations.

These then are the three threads that are part of the Peace, Unity 
and Sovereignty Jatha. The Peoples Science Movement understands and 
realises that this Jatha is not an end in itself. But we believe it 
can be our way of saying that we have had enough of darkness, let the 
light shine now! We know that this Jatha, to fulfill even a fraction 
of its mandate, must reach out to a much larger number of people who 
are not part of the Peoples Science Movement. Because we believe that 
they are a part of the larger US, that today is fragmented but has 
the ability to really create Another World if it decides to come 
together. The PSM appeals to all those who believe in our concept of 
Peace, Unity and Sovereignty to join hands with this Jatha.

Questioning as a way to seek Answers

The Jatha will travel across all the states of the country between 
8th September and 2nd October spreading these messages, through the 
medium of plays, songs, exhibitions, films, books. There will thus be 
Jathas that would fan out in all the states in the country, and would 
finally culminate in three places: Wardha in Maharashtra, Champaran 
in Bihar, and Jallianwalan Bagh in Punjab. During the course of the 
Jatha we hope that we will raise many more questions that we can 
answer at this stage. Being part of the Science Movement we think 
that raising questions is the first step towards changing anything.

What are the questions that the Jatha will raise? Many of these will 
evolve as we prepare for the Jatha, even as the Jatha progresses, 
because we do not think that we know all the questions that can be 
asked. But to help ourselves we shall prepare plays, booklets, songs, 
exhibitions, films that question the very basis of the world we live 
in today.

We seek to question the rationale of disunity based on caste and 
creed when millions are homeless, hungry, denied health and 
education. We seek to question why girls will not be allowed to be 
born, not allowed to go to school, discriminated at the workplace and 
burnt for dowry. We seek to question the process by which priorities 
are decided. Priorities where we can think of sending a spacecraft to 
the moon but cannot provide water to our people. Priorities where 
Multinational companies are allowed to overwhelm us while our own 
companies close down. Where nuclear weapons are supposed to provide 
security while common people become more insecure.

We seek to question many fundamentals. How do we define the Indian 
state today? Do we abandon the concept of the freedom movement, which 
saw India as a multicultural, multi-religious and multi linguistic 
state? Do we turn back to the concept of a state based on religion or 
race? Was Gandhi right, or were we wrong all along in thinking that 
Hitler was a monster. Does it matter who our ancestors were if the 
question today is how we survive tomorrow?

We also need to find answers to what the real people in this country 
feel about globalisation. Is it an opportunity that we need to grasp, 
or imperialism by another name? There is not a single "global" 
organisation today that is not controlled by the United States and 
its allies or Multinational Corporations playing the role of 
"expert".  The World Trade Organisation is meant to kill poor 
countries' manufacturing capacities and agricultural production for 
the improvement of its own populations' living. Is there opportunity 
for us under these circumstances? The WTO is not about free trade, 
but about free competition of labour. One of the main purposes of 
globalisation is to initiate a savage competition among workers - 
between workers in the US, in Mexico, in Thailand, in India, across 
the globe -- so that labour can be exploited to the maximum extent 
possible, no matter where it resides. The WTO also prevents 
competition from emerging industries in developing countries by 
stopping innovation, stopping science by clamping private property 
right on human intelligence. Alongside this, financial institutions 
like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are engaged 
in ensuring that global capital can flow freely across countries, 
undermining the financial security of sovereign nations. Does this 
not mean that globalisation has to be also fought through the unity 
of the working people across the globe? The PSM, hence, also sees the 
Jatha as a way to link up with the global movement against 
imperialist globalisation and with the World Social Forum, that is 
being organised in Mumbai in January 2004.

These and many more are the questions that the Jatha seeks to pose, 
while attempting to provide some answers on these issues.

Alternatives - Making Another World Possible

The Jatha, while questioning all this will also present alternatives 
that the Peoples Science Movement has developed. Alternative 
strategies in education, health, rural industrialisation, village 
level planning, women's empowerment. We know many alternatives that 
are premised on the concept of Another World are being developed, in 
our country and elsewhere. Without only debating on whose alternative 
is "correct" let this also be an opportunity to debate all these 
alternatives. The Jatha will also bring to the people lessons from 
our history, which shows how unity is our heritage, not disunity. It 
will present the shared heritage of the people of India - cultural 
and technological.

The PSM knows this is a massive task that we are undertaking. But we 
also know that people are on the move, they are not silent 
spectators. We seek support for our endeavour from all who want to 
ask questions and believe in Another World. We appeal for people to 
join this task, and dedicate this Jatha to the brave people of this 
country who are willing to stand up and fight against the forces of 
darkness.


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

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