SACW | 15 July, 2003
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex@mnet.fr
Tue Jul 15 02:44:36 CDT 2003
South Asia Citizens Wire | 15 July, 2003
[1.] Tackling sectarianism [in Pakistan] (M. B. Naqvi)
[2.] Upcoming Television Broadcast in the US: The Rock Star and the
Mullahs [on Junoon and Pakistan]
[3.] Pakistan: The youth peace delegation from India heads home
[4.] Listen to recent broadcasts on Public Radio in the US:
- India Violence [...Indian State of Gujarat acquitted 21 Hindu men]
- On Gopal Godse: Gandhi Assassination Conspirator
[5.] India: Fundamentals of Ayodhya (Javed Akhtar)
[6.] India: Remembering Bhisham Sahni A memorial meeting by SAHMAT
(16 July, Delhi)
[7.] India / Gujarat: The X-Files: Where the mob goes scot-free...
[8.] India: Human Chain and Protest Meeting In Ahmedabad demands
reopening of Gujarat Case
[9.] India / Pakistan: People like us across the border (S.K. Aggarwal)
[10.] India's New Politics of Preference (John Lancaster)
[11.] Aman Trust's Peace and Conflict Studies Course (Delhi,
September 15 - October 15, 2003)
[12.] Recently Published: At Home In Diaspora
South Asian Scholars and the West edited by Jackie ASSAYAG and Veronique BE=
NEI
--------------
[1.]
[14 July 2003]
Tackling sectarianism [in Pakistan]
By M. B. Naqvi
Killing of 54 Muslims during prayers in an Imam Bargah-cum-Mosque in
Quetta on July 4 was a powerful reminder that the monster of
sectarianism still strikes at will; the state seems powerless. Since
early 1990s this demon has devoured thousands of Muslims who differ
on some points from majority. Over the years the state has been able
to prosecute and sentence a handful of the killers while most were
let off by courts for lack of evidence.
Authority's reaction to such killings is predictable. Sectarian
terrorism is condemned in strongest terms. The police is ordered to
arrest the culprits immediately --- which it seldom does. The long
arm of the law is mentioned that does not spare the wrong doers.
Meantime experience shows that that long arm is in fact not long
enough to uncover the men who send individual killers on their
murdering mission. The emphasis is on catching the culprits, not on
the infrastructure that maintains, trains, funds and protects the
murderers.
LEAs chime in to say that no good Muslim or Pakistani can do such
things; it is the work of the "foreign hand". Now this is easily
recognised: it is India's intelligence service RAW. The government
buys it instantly. That is treated as complete explanation with
little to do. Afterwards it is business as usual. Satisfied with this
master explanation, no subsequent effort is expended by Pakistan's
many undercover agencies or police to catch the masterminds behind
the terrorists who order the killing of Kafirs and protect killers.
Most such murders, targetted or indiscriminate (usually in Mosques
during prayers), can often be linked to the political expediencies of
some of those who politically matter. It does not seem as if anyone
has made a graph, with one side showing the dates of sectarian
killings against the other displaying political crises. One is not
too sure if a pattern does not emerge.
Certain circumstances compel attention. First, murderers get away
safely. What the LEAs do, in addition to the invoking of the "foreign
hand", is to throw a wide net and arrest many, most on flimsy
assumptions. Only a few are proceeded against, mostly on the basis of
evidence that usually gets thrown out even in the Anti-Terrorist
Courts. Far too few cases get past the High Courts. The reason seems
to be that most real culprits are well protected and the police does
not or dare not catch them.
Second concerns this 'foreign hand'. Heaven knows the Indian RAW and
others have plenty of reasons to be mad at their counterparts in
Pakistan; there is an almost ongoing war between the two sets of
spooks. They would perhaps dearly like to do terrible things to each
other. The question is how do the Indian spooks do such things? Do
they send their own operatives? Or do they hire Pakistanis to do
their bidding? Given the number of incidents about which Authority
seemed sure that Indian RAW caused them, would seem to show that
either the Pakistan side of the border is too porous --- because of
either corruption or negligence --- or there are such an awful lot of
Pakistanis who are ready to murder and maim so many Pakistani Muslims
for the sake of --- what? Money? Or some other consideration. Both
possibilities look absurd.
Look at the Quetta incident closely. Out of the three assailants, at
least one was a suicide bomber. Can any undercover service find
suicide bombers in a scarcely friendly country? The other two killers
should also have been consciously ready to die in their effort. How
does RAW buy such men? Is it not safer to assume that these were
committed men who thought they were doing good (Jihad) by killing
those Kafirs; they expect to earn a Palace in Paradise.
Why should such cases not be seen as profound failures of not only
Pakistan's colonial style administration but also of the political
elites and their politics? No RAW or CIA or Khad can hire suicide
bombers. Pakistanis should focus on the mind of such killers. Who can
produce such mind sets? Certainly not unsympathetic foreign states.
It is a local job. The "foreign hand" is a lame excuse of the
Pakistani agencies' own failure to prevent such occurrences or to
catch the murderers. Rulers by echoing the spooks shift the blame
from themselves. There may be more to it.
Shias and Sunnis have lived together peacefully for a Millennium and
one half in many countries, with occasional friction in the past. In
Pakistan sectarian riots or murders were unheard of until well into
1980s. It was Gen. Ziaul Haq's malign talent that, after the 1983 MRD
movement, midwifed the birth of sectarian and other divisive
movements --- and in Karachi. Army's intelligence services were their
godfathers; indeed these are the moving finger that writes on the
Pakistani wall. They have masterminded at least three Jihads: first
was against the Soviets in Afghanistan in 1980s; the second started
in the Indian-controlled Kashmir in the 1990s; and the third is again
in Afghanistan for helping pull the American chestnuts out of fire
yet again.
Whom did they utilise? Look closely. These Jihadis are the dropouts
or graduates of the JUI-run Madressas in NWFP, Baluchistan and some
in Karachi and Punjab. They are further brainwashed during further
training; the final product will however not be recognised by
Maulanas Qasim Nanautvi, Hussain Ahmad Madni or even, I dare say,
Maulana Abul Ala Maududi. The Jamaat-i-Islami's contribution to the
evolution of the ultimate mind set cannot be inconsiderable, for JUI
and the JI are actually friendly rivals. Pakistan's military
intelligence services can be complimented on the production of fine
fanatics, who are passable imitation of Viet Congs in commitment.
Americans and Pakistan Army's purposes may have been served thereby
but what murder-making instrument have they tossed into Pakistani
people's lap. Make no mistake. It is a poisonous weed, this Jihadi
mind set, that is likely to unravel the very warp and woof of
Pakistan. Remember nothing like that had existed in Pakistan until
1980s. The committed JI's Islamic State worker was not as intolerant
or bigoted. This Jihadi mind set --- manifested in Taliban, and
Kashmir Jihadis' conduct --- actually apes Zia in wanting to Islamise
the traditionalist Muslims in their own image. The sectarian killers
have not come from the Mars. They are the same Islamic extremists who
are called Jihadis in Kashmir or Taliban in Afghanistan. Remember
also that Gen. Moinuddin Haider had wanted to extradite 200 wanted
SSP members from Afghanistan. Taliban simply refused to hand over
their own replicas. Whoever clearly examines the minds of the three
sets of bigots will see commonalties. One might say that the same
reality looks three separate things in different contexts.
Should religious intolerance and extremism continue to grow
unchecked, all minorities will progressively go on being oppressed
--- and alienated. For once, let the elites stop being hypocrites and
dissemblers and see the birth of religious fascism as a process
resulting from giving state a religion (Islam) and laying down that
that it shall enforce that religion. Since power was seen to be at
stake, a scramble among religious parties was bound to ensue, each
claiming to be the authentic interpreter of Islam; the more strident
and more extreme would move ahead, especially if it is assumed that
Pakistan or Islam is incomplete until the Shariah is enforced.
The moment it is posited that Islam is a unique system of governance
and organising the economy requiring enforcement, emphasis is put on
defining Islam, with the need to know who is to interpret Islam.
Actually, Islam evolved as a tolerant and accommodating faith of the
millions. As it happens, there is a plethora of orthodoxies or sects
with own Fiqahs, all complete and each claiming to be the true Islam.
Some thoughtlessly talk of a non-denominational, homogenised Islam,
above and beyond sects, such as were Quaid-e-Azam or Sir Muhammad
Iqbal exemplified. Such people were and are a handful. Reality of
grassroots Islam was always, and still is, sectarian orthodoxies.
That in the days of less rapacious and or less tyrannical and more
tolerant kings, the sects --- each divorced from state power ---
learned to live with one another. When religious leaders scent power
through political action, as now, that coexistence breaks down; each
sect will want all of the state power in order to make itself
dominant so as to enforce true (its) Islam. Hence this competition is
resulting in growing extremism.
When whisky-imbibing, west-oriented elites endlessly go on with
Islamic rhetoric --- Islamic solidarity, brotherhood and its many-
splendoured beauties --- orthodox leaders of various sects become
angry. They in effect say it is we who know Islam, having read the
Quran, Hadith and Nazra. What do these Muslim Leaguers and PPP
wallahs or generals know about Islam; they are hypocrites and
dissemblers. History shows empty rhetoric has to be paid for; the
words carelessly uttered soon become fetters on their feet. Words
take revenge. In Pakistan's case, the politics of bogus rhetoric of
Islam by dissembling politicians has been followed by orthodoxies
contending for supreme power. If the strongest group looks uncommonly
like Taliban, well, so it is. After culture-induced historical
coexistence has to give way to a scramble for power among religious
politicians, eager to take power from, or at least share with, the
traditional elites.
The fate of Pakistan cannot be different from Algeria, Egypt,
Afghanistan, Indonesia, even Iran, if power politics in Islam's names
continues. Enough people see the danger. Enforcing 'true Islam' in a
predominantly Muslim country can only mean a desperate struggle for
power by traditional orthodoxies. No Muslim country, with a richly
plural society, can stay united and give citizens all freedoms or
make progress unless it steers clear of religious controversies.
State has to be above the religions of its citizens; that is the way
to avoid tyranny or unending conflict among contending orthodoxies
_____
[2.]
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/
The Rock Star and the Mullahs
Producer/Directors: Angus Macqueen and Ruhi Hamid
Broadcast Date: Thursday, July 17, 9pm (repeated Sun/Mon midnight in NY)
Salman Ahmad is the charismatic lead guitarist for the popular
Pakistani rock group, Junoon. Inspired by the ancient Sufi tradition,
the band's music and lyrics reflect the moderate, liberal side of Islam.
WIDE ANGLE follows Salman as he journeys from the tolerant streets
of Lahore to Peshawar, where politically powerful and conservative
mullahs want to ban music. This film presents a rich and intimate
portrait of modern day Pakistan, a pivotal nation in the war against
terror.
Angus Macqueen has produced and directed some of the most
prestigious documentaries on British television over the past decade.
His films include DEATH OF YUGOSLAVIA (winner of the BAFTA
and Columbia Journalism Awards), THE SECOND RUSSIAN
REVOLUTION, THE HAND OF STALIN, DANCING FOR DOLLARS,
and many others. He also directed The Empty ATM about the
Argentine economic crisis for WIDE ANGLE's first season.
Ruhi Hamid recently filmed and directed a two-part series for Channel
4, WOMEN AND ISLAM, which examines the status of women's lives
in several Muslim countries. Specializing in working alone in hostile
regions of the world, Hamid has filmed and directed numerous
documentaries for British television. Her Channel 4 series LAHORE
LAW was nominated for the Grierson Award for Best Documentary.
o o o
What's next for Pakistan?
Briefing
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/junoon/index.html
_____
[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.]
National Public Radio (USA)
July 10, 2003 India Violence
Listen to Morning Edition audio
<http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=3D1328941>http://discov=
er.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=3D1328941
Last week, a high court in the Indian State of Gujarat acquitted 21
Hindu men on charges they murdered more than a dozen Muslims in the
town of Baroda last year. More than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims,
were killed in the orgy of violence that followed last year's burning
of a train carrying Hindu pilgrims in Godhra. NPR's Michael Sullivan
reports.
July 12, 2003 Gandhi Assassination Conspirator Says No Regrets
Listen to Weekend Edition - Saturday audio
<http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=3D1334787>http://discov=
er.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=3D1334787
_____
[5.]
Mid-Day (Bombay, India)
July 13, 2003
=46undamentals of Ayodhya
By Javed Akhtar
I don't think the Ram Janmabhoomi or the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya is a
problem. It is a manifestation of a problem. You can solve problems.
You cannot solve manifestations.
Nobody can deny that Ayodhya is historically and mythologically Ram's
abode. Nobody in his or her right mind can say that a Ram temple
should not be built there. The bone of contention is not Ayodhya, but
a particular plot. Not even a particular plot but an area of a mere
80/40 square feet. Not even that. If the 80/40 square feet 'sanctum
sanctorum' of the proposed Ram temple could be located a mere 30 feet
away the dispute could be resolved. The problem is that while no one
is sure of the exact millennium of Ram's birth, the sangh parivar is
absolutely certain about the precise spot of his birth. Yet, leave
alone 30 feet, they will not agree to move even by 3 inches to solve
the problem plaguing all of Indian society.
On the other hand, the 'once a mosque, always a mosque' claim of
maulvis and mullahs is nothing but a lie. They cannot deny that in
many Muslim countries mosques have often been shifted even to broaden
highways. So the insistence that a mosque must be rebuilt in the
exact spot is anything but religious.
That a solution is the last thing on the mind of the contestants on
either side is obvious. The moment newspapers reported that the
Shankaracharya of Kanchi Peeth is in touch with the All India Muslim
Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) for a mutually acceptable solution, some
Urdu papers published unsubstantiated news that some members among
the AIMPLB had been paid Rs. 20 crore by the government. On the other
hand, the VHP leader Giriraj Kishore wasted no time in declaring that
being a Shaivite, the Shankaracharya had no locus standi on the
Ayodhya issue. (The VHP regained its reverence for the Shankaracharya
the moment it became known that his proposed formula was no different
from what the sangh parivar wants). So much for these leaders' desire
for a solution and their claims of religious unity!
Since nothing in the world is done on such scale and with such
consistency without a grand plan, the question arises is, why are the
fundamentalists from both sides doing this?
This controversy cannot be understood in isolation for it is just a
bit act of a marathon drama that is being played in the sub-continent
for around 150 years.
It all began in the 1850s, when on the one hand the nationalist
forces were awakening to the growing power of the British
colonialists and had started coming together to resist it. On the
other hand, the British realized that they would not be able to
control the 'natives' without creating a schism between them along
communal lines. (I wonder if it is a coincidence that the Ayodhya
controversy, too, surfaced for the first time in 1853). For the
British, the mutiny of 1857 was their worst fears come true.
=46rom the record of correspondence available with the India office
(London), it is clear that the British conjured up, preached and
propagated the two-nation theory in a deliberate and consistent
manner.
In 1859, the British colonial administration erected a fence to
separate the Babri Masjid and Ram chabutra in Ayodhya , allowing the
inner court to be used by Muslims and the outer court by Hindus.
Perhaps another coincidence!
All those who helped the British in promoting and propagating the
notion that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations and cannot
live together, cannot be called anything but collaborators. And there
is no doubt that the Muslim League, Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS
belong to this category. Some people may be shocked and outraged at
the RSS being called collaborators of the colonial power. But I would
like to ask why from its birth in 1925 till the country's
independence in 1947, the RSS did not issue a single statement, did
not organise a single rally and did not court a single arrest
protesting colonial rule. The same is true of the Muslim League. Not
a single member of these organisations that succeeded in dividing
this nation and creating Pakistan, went to jail even for a day at the
peak of the freedom movement.
There is an unbelievable similarly in the political stands of the
Muslim League and the RSS. The Muslim League asked its followers to
boycott the Quit India Movement, RSS did the same. MS Golwalkar,
called Guruji by RSS followers, said such movements create chaos and
law and order problems, so they should be avoided and ignored.
Ultimately, one set of British collaborators, the Muslim League, were
rewarded with Pakistan, a Muslim state.
But the Hindu proponents of the two-nation theory were deprived of
their dream because of genuine nationalists who fought for
independence, filled the jails, went to the gallows, gave the country
a Constitution based not on the two-nation theory but the vision of a
composite India.
At this point we need to ask ourselves who a fundamentalist is. The
fundamentalist has his own version of history, his own definition of
culture, his own interpretation of religion and his own brand of
nationalism. Behind all the impassioned sloganeering and pretensions
of defending culture, religion and nation, the real agenda is to
legitimize an unjust and an exploitative system where it exists, or
to create one where it does not.
Gujarat is called a laboratory of Hindutva but in my view its biggest
laboratory is Pakistan, which was founded on those very principles on
which the Sangh Parivar wants to rebuild this country. In Pakistan,
Islamic fundamentalism is but a convenient cover for an exploitative
economic system. And the 'parivar's' ultimate fantasy is a Hindu
Pakistan.
In Pakistan whose population is around 15 crores, nearly 75 per cent,
that is around 11 crores, are directly or indirectly engaged in
agriculture. Some 200 families own most of the agricultural land.
Even assuming each of these extended families comprise 1,000 members,
some 2,00,000 people control all the agricultural property in
Pakistan. What is the status of the remaining 10 crore and 98 lakh
people dependent on agriculture for their livelihood? The fact is
that they are landless and even bonded labourers living in abysmal
conditions. These people are at the total mercy of these landlords.
In many places, no schools are permitted; the police dare not enter
these areas.
To make such a system viable, it is necessary that all civil
liberties be denied to the people. To deny civil liberties, you need
an undemocratic system. And to justify and legitimise an undemocratic
system, you need religious fundamentalism and majoritarianism
pretending to be nationalism.
This use of fundamentalism is also evident in those Muslim countries
where a few control all national wealth. Though the elite dole out
crumbs to the ordinary citizen in these countries, no civil rights
exist.
Incidentally, fascism and fundamentalism (theocracy) have one thing
in common: both believe in the total usurpation of the basic rights
and civil liberties of citizens. Nazi Germany and Talibani
Afghanistan are eloquent testimonies of this. Interestingly, the
sangh parivar has from the very beginning been enamoured by Nazi
ideology as is evident from the writings of the stalwarts of
Hindutva. Given half a chance, like the Taliban, the sangh parivar
starts putting women in their place. This gives us an insight into
their mindset and their agenda of total control over society.
It is not that every fundamentalist sees his worldview as a mere
political instrument. On the contrary, the large majority of those
who subscribe to such views are sincerely committed to them. But
these are mere pawns and minions who have been brain-washed. And
among them, those from the economically weaker sections are often
used as canon fodder. But for those who are pulling the invisible
strings, fundamentalism remains but a political strategy.
To think that it was reverence for Ram that made LK Advani launch his
Rath Yatra is like believing that actually Jinnah wanted to save
Islam in the sub-continent. The fact is that Jinnah was a
cold-blooded, calculating, unscrupulous, over-ambitious,
manipulative, power-hungry politician who hardly had any religious
beliefs. The same can be said of Mr LK Advani.
What should not be forgotten is that when Mr Advani and his party
picked up the Ayodhya gauntlet, Muslim fundamentalists provided a
perfect foil to him. We also need to understand the Muslim
fundamentalist agenda. In post-Partition India, the Muslim
fundamentalist can no longer aspire to gain control of the State; but
his political ambitions intact, he does seek to be a state within a
state. He is interested in democracy and secularism only to the
extent that in the name of these principles his fundamentalism is
tolerated. He wants tolerance and democracy in the country because
that serves his interest, but he is not prepared to tolerate any
freedom or democracy within his own community. He wants total control
over the country's largest minority the same way as the sangh parivar
wants total control over the entire country.
To be able to exert pressure on the State, the Muslim fundamentalist
would like to be seen as the sole representative of his community. He
wants to use Muslims as bargaining chips to do as he pleases. I hang
my head in shame every time I recall how at the time of Shahbano, the
Muslim fundamentalists were allowed to force secular India to bend to
their diktats.
He who speaks out against the Muslim fundamentalist is anti-Islam, he
who speaks against the sangh parivar is anti-national. Both of them
have no tolerance for any opinion other than their own.
So, the choice is not between fundamentalists of two communities, for
they are the mirror-images of each other. The choice is not even
between a temple and a mosque. The choice is between democracy and a
totalitarian regime. Liberal and a restrictive society. Freedom of
expression and repression.
Let us make all fundamentalist organizations defunct and irrelevant
by telling them in no uncertain terms that it is not Ayodhya - they
are the problem.
_____
[6.]
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 13:05:09 +0530 (IST)
SAHMAT
8, Vithalbhai Patel House, Rafi Marg
New Delhi-110001
Telephone- 23711276/ 23351424
e-mail-sahmat@vsnl.com
14.7.2003
Dear friends,
Bhisham Sahni was a treasured talent and moral guide
to all of us at Sahmat. A colleague of Safdar Hashmi,
Bhishamji was a founder trustee of the Safdar Hashmi
Memorial Trust at its founding, and actively
participated in Sahmat since its inception 15 years
ago. Sahmat is organising a memorial tribute to our
friend and mentor.
Remembering Bhisham Sahni ( 1915-2003) on July 16,
2003, Wednesday at 4.00pm
at Speakers hall, Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New
Delhi.
Please join.
Ashok
for SAHMAT
_____
[7.]
The Times of India
July 12, 2003
The X-Files: Where the mob goes scot-free...
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
The demand for a retrial by Zahira, key witness in the Best Bakery
case, reveals the same old story of mob violence prosecution's
failure to gather enough evidence, inaction by the police and
complicity of the state. Why is the walk to justice tortuous for the
victim of mob violence? Sunday Times takes a look at some of the
worst communal riots that rocked post-Partition India and adds up the
accused list.
Godhra Case:
Sabarmati Express carnage at Godhra on February 27, 2002; 59 burnt to
death Status: 131 booked under Pota; 70 arrested, nine released for
lack of evidence Chargesheets: Six Trial: Case yet to come up for
trial
Ahmedabad: It was ironic hundreds witnessed the torching of the
train and yet, the exact sequence of events remains elusive. The
victims were mostly kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya. The FIR lodged
at the Railway police station in Godhra by the driver of the Express
described a "mob of 900 to 1000 people" mostly Muslims, as the
offenders. The investigations, taken over by the Anti-Terrorist
Squad, saw an 'ISI-hand' and Pota was applied on the accused,
including three minor boys. The president of the Godhra municipality,
Mohammad Husain Kalota, and councillor Haji Bilal Ismail Sujela were
arrested as the 'prime accused'. The case then went to Spl IG, CID
(crime and railways), P P Aagja, till the state government handed it
over to DIG Rakesh Asthana.
The first twist in the case came after a forensic reconstruction of
the incident indicated the coach was burnt from inside, near seat No
72, using over 60 litres of inflammable liquid. Narco-analysis tests
on five of the accused led to the arrest of the 'prime accused'
Razzak Kurkur a self-proclaimed leader of the railway station
tea-vendors, and exculpated Kalota.
The second twist came when the 'attempted' molestation of a girl by
Ram sevaks at the station went into the records in the second
chargesheet filed in October 2002. The involvement of Simi, the
underworld and narco-terrorism were other possibilities floating
around.
The third twist came in a judicial confession by a history-sheeter
Jabbir Bin Yamin Behera which led to the arrest of Maulana Hussain
Umarji, a popular cleric in Godhra, now the 'prime conspirator'. The
Gujarat government then invoked POTA. The police claims, the arrests
of ex-councillor Faroukh Bhana and Salim Panwala will provide the
final 'missing links'. One witness has backtracked while the Gujarat
HC bailed out Kalota and three others last week.
Gujarat riots:
Deaths: 1000 approx. between February and May 2002 Cases registered:
4,252 Cases chargesheeted, pending trial: 2,037 Accused arrested:
23,777 Accused punished: None
Riots followed the Sabarmati Express carnage and spread to nearly 20
districts in Gujarat. Frenzied mobs, including those owing allegiance
to the VHP and Bajrang Dal, allegedly plundered the homes of
minorities and raped their women. In the Kidiyad massacre in
Panchmahals over 60 in a tempo were set ablaze; in the Dipda darwaja
killing in Mehsana, 11 were burnt and their remains dumped into a
sewer.
A year later, some of the trails have concluded. Convictions? None.
The BJP even ignored the NHRC's directive to hand over investigations
of the five major massacres including Godhra, to the CBI. Thus, of
the over 23,000 accused arrested, 90 per cent are on bail. For 65
year-old Fakir Mohammad who lost his 45-year-old son, hope is dead
word. "Nobody has even recorded our statements and they have not even
included those people whom we named in the FIR'
Bombay riots:
Number killed: 872 Main accused: =E2=A4=A2 Bal Thackeray (Shiv Sena)
Mumbai: He is not invincible for nothing. When the Maharashtra
government did not chargesheet the Sena chief for his provocative
writings in 'Saamna', a public interest writ sought to get this done.
The petition was eventually dismissed by the Supreme Court in 1995.
In July 2000, when home minister Chhagan Bhujbal attempted to file
charges afresh, the metropolitan court threw out the matter, saying
it was 'time-barred'
Status of the case: Pending in high court
Madhukar Sarpotdar: Sarpotdar, then an MLA, was cited by witnesses
before the Srikrishna Commission as one of the main instigators of
violence in Bandra East. He was arrested for being in possession of
unlicensed pistols and choppers in a curfew area. Status of case:
Acquitted
Gajanan Kirtikar: Named for leading two morchas to Jogeshwari police
station, which culminated in killings. He later became minister of
state for home. Status of case: Chargesheet filed in 2001. He was
released on a personal bond of Rs 1000. Case still on.
He says, "We must forget the past. How do I expect riot victims to
forget? Well, the victims of Godhra cannot forget either...but on a
sarvajanik level we should not nurture this kind of sentiment" Sure.
R D Tyagi Tyagi, then a joint commissioner was named in the report in
an incident involving the killing of nine. He denied all. He later
became police commissioner. Status of case: Chargesheeted in May
2001, case due to come up in sessions court.
Ram Naik (BJP) The report says Naik, then an MP, was part of a morcha
to the Jogeshwari police demanding the release of rioters. The
marchers later killed two people. Naik later became state railway
minister and then central minister. Status of case: Police never
filed charges.
The Srikrishna report also mentions the Tanzeem Allah-o-Akbar, SIMI,
Muslim League, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind in individual incidents. Except
for SIMI, which was banned in 2001, all the others continue.
The fight for justice has been arduous. Take Niloufer Bhagwat, CPI
counsel who filed a writ when the Shiv Sena-BJP, after coming to
power, wound up the Commission in January 1996. It was reinstated six
months later. She said, "Neither the Sangh Parivar nor the Congress
has any intention of securing justice. But then, I had no illusions
even when I started."
Teesta Setalvad, co-editor Communalism Combat: "How can there be
healing without justice? The Srikrishna report has been largely
ignored, some families have still not got compensation, and not a
single accused is behind bars."
1984 riots:
Killed: 2733 after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by
her Sikh bodyguards on Oct 31, 1984.
Main accused: Senior Congress leaders H K L Bhagat, Jagdish Tytler
and Sajjan Kumar. Status: All were exonerated till the CBI on July
11, 2003 filed an appeal against a lower court order which acquitted
Sajjan Kumar.
Delhi: The panels of inquiry have been numerous. In 1985 it was the
Justice Ranga Nath Misra commission.
It recommended that the Delhi administration investigate the conduct
of the delinquent police officers. Nothing came out of it.
=46our more followed the Jain-Banerjee, Potti-Rosha, Jain-Aggarwal and
Kapoor-Mittal committees. Finally, the Narula Committee was
constituted in December 1993. No results. In 1999, the Justice
Nanavati Commission began its investigations. It was flooded by over
10,000 affidavits. It was appointed to look into the causes of the
1984 violence and the manner in which it occurred. And the police
came out looking none too clean.
In December 23, 2002, the courts exonerated Sajjan Kumar. It was
alleged by one Anwar Kaur that a mob instigated by him had killed her
husband on November 1, 1984. The CBI chargesheeted Kumar and 12
others on December 22, 1994.
This is what additional sessions judge Manju Goel had to say: "The
total evidence fails miserably to prove whether Sajjan Kumar (or the
other 12 accused) were part of the unlawful assembly. The three
witnesses produced by the investigating agency had flaws in their
testimony" Former Union Minister H K L Bhagat and three others too
were acquitted in November 1999.
They were charged with the murder of Ram Singh on November 1, 1984 in
Trilokpuri where over 400 people were killed.
Gautam Navlakha, a human rights activist says, "Our criminal justice
system collapses in front of the party in power. The rot is deep. The
police, lower judiciary and the political party in power, all are
deeply implicated in these riots. At every step there are obstacles"
The way out? "Public intervention only can play a catalytic role in
bringing justice for the victims. To expect institutions to play a
stellar role here, is nonsense."
H S Phoolka, the lawyer who represented the victims says, "The
primary concern should be justice to society and rehabilitation of
the victims.
"Punishment will act as deterrence. The history of mob violence has
been its low conviction rate."
(Shobha John with inputs from Leena Mishra, Radha Rajadhyaksha,
Shabnam Minwalla)
_____
[8.]
MOVEMENT FOR SECULAR DEMOCRACY
C/o, Narmad-Meghani Library, Opp. Natraj Railway Crossing, Mithakhali,
Ellis Bridge, AHMEDABAD-380006. Tele/Fax: - (079) 6404418.
E-mail: dnrad1@sancharnet.net
HUMAN CHAIN AND PROTEST MEETING IN AHMEDABAD
o REOPEN BEST BAKERY CASE
o IMPLEMENT N.H.R.C. Recommendations
o HAND OVER ALL PENDING CASES TO C.B.I.
o GIVE PROTECTION TO WITNESSES
AHMEDABAD-D 10-7-03
The Movement for Secular Democracy (MSD) organized a protest meeting
and HUMAN CHAIN programme demanding reopening of BEST BAKERY CASE
and reinvestigating the case the case to C.B.I. as per the NHRC's
recommendation.
About more than 800 women and, men joined in HUMAN CHAIN programme
this afternoon inspite of rough weather from one end of Nehru
Bridge to other end of the bridge.
AWAG, SANCHETANA, SAMERTH, ST. XAVIERS SOCIAL SERVICE
SOCIETY,Prasant,Drashan,SPRAT,Abhigam ,SAMVAD, AIPSO, TUs, Gandhians,
Artists, Writers, Academicians , Media persons,students, youths
participated in the Human Chain programme .Formation of the Human
chain started from the Indulal Yagnik statue corner of Nehru Bridge
right upto the Ashram Road end .
Earlier a Meeting was held on BEST BAKERY JUDGEMENT at Sardar Baug.
Ms. Ilabehn Pathak, ,Ms.Swaroop Dhrub,Sri RajaniDave, Sri M Gandhin
and Sri DwarikaNath Rath addressed the gathering. Songs on communal
Harmony were presented by young volunteers.
All the speakers brought out the failure of the police investing
agencies in nabbing the real culprits of the carnage and the failure
of the government in providing protection to the witnesses which
led to the failure of delivery of Justice. It was also feared that
the other pending cases will also meet with the same fate of the Best
Bakery case and therefore the general consensus emerged that all he
pending cases must be transferred to CBI for an impartial
investigation.
A handbill with the demands were distributed among the public during
the Human Chain programme
Dr. Ila Joshi, Sheba George, Dr. Hanif Lakadawala, Fr. Mosses, Fr.
Mangalam, Vinoy-Charul,Abhinav Shukla, Vismay Shah, DaminiShah,Ravji
Sandarva,NainaShah, Sarah Baltiwala,Bharati Pramar,Dinkar Dave, Dilip
Cahndulal, Daniel Macwan, Nilesh Modi,Vasanhta, D. Ramkrishnan,Jayesh
Patel,JayantiPanchal,M.H.Johar and many others joined the Human
Chain.
A state wide signature campaign is launched to mobilize and voice the
concerns of Human Rights related issues in a memorandum addressed to
the President of India and Chief Justice of Supreme Court
It is also planned to hold a State level conference.
News by
Bhaveek Raja
_____
[9.]
The Tribune (Chandigarh, India)
May 31, 2003
www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030531/edit.htm#5
People like us across the border
by S.K. Aggarwal
It was mid-fifties and I was a growing child in the streets of Amritsar.
The area around where we lived was very thinly populated and there were
many dilapidated houses and an abandoned mosque near our house. During our
evening outings my father would tell me how these houses once belonged to
Muslims and how they had to leave for Pakistan. There were no Muslims to
be seen in Amritsar as this town was right at the declared border and
everybody was able to cross over.
My father and mother would tell me how once they were their neighbours and
all those nasty and ugly scenes at the time of partition. We children
would perceive Muslims as looters, plunderers, tormenters and war-mongers.
There were our text books narrating the horrible stories of Muslim
atrocities on Sikh Gurus and all these were very well illustrated in
beautiful but piercing and poignant paintings by S. Sobha Singh mounted on
the walls of the famous Sikh Museum in the Golden Temple. My own
conception of a Muslim was that of a fierce looking monster. I grew up
like that and finished my school without seeing any in flesh and blood.
It was my first year at college. During the summer break a friend's
brother who was a customs official took the two of us to see the Wagah
border post. There I stood at the no-man's stretch of land facing a boy of
my age who had come to see the border post from Lahore. We were soon
talking. We spoke the same language and the same dialect. We longed to
cross over and sit together and talk more. Dogs were running from this
side to that and back chasing each other in play. There were no barriers
for them. But a soldier of the Pakistan Rangers was keeping a vigil on us.
As soon as I tried to read the English daily that my newly formed friend
was holding in his hand the soldier separated us, "This is not allowed".
We grudgingly moved away from each other. That day I felt very different.
So where were those monsters that I had imagined?
After finishing college when I moved out of my shell at Amritsar and saw
the vast sea of human faces of my country it became so obvious how it is
the same stock, all of us. Only the name will tell you whether you are a
Hindu, a Muslim or for that matter a Christian or someone else. Working in
a busy maternity and paediatric hospital in the walled city of Delhi with
a majority of our patients being poor Muslims from the city and the slums
and resettlement colonies for the last 20 years I see the all prevailing
mothers and children with anxieties and apprehensions common to all of us
during the illness of our near and dear ones. Mothers and grand-mothers
and fathers and grand-fathers overjoyed over the birth of their new-borns
and wailing over the loss of their children. There is no difference. All
humans behave in a similar manner in matters of joy and sorrow.
There is a realisation; we are the same people. When we see the people
from across the border whether on their arrival here or on the Pak TV we
cannot make out one from the other. Why this animosity? We are living with
it for the past 50 years.
But then real brothers also have it for some similar reasons after they
start living separately. It may last for many years, but in due course
bones of contention crumble and cordiality evolves. Their children relish
the kinship and proudly declare in larger gatherings that they are
cousins.
Let the people of this sub-continent rediscover this kinship. Are we at
such a threshold; alas there are more fears than hopes. But then hope
sustains us. This is bound to happen sooner or later.
_____
[10.]
The Washington Post
Monday, July 14, 2003; Page A15
India's New Politics of Preference
Upper Castes Seek Inclusion in Quota System to Offset Lost Privileges
By John Lancaster
Washington Post Foreign Service
SHAHPURA, India -- Born into the Brahmin caste, Sunil Sharma occupies
the highest rung of India's ancient social hierarchy. But as he sat
the other day in his tiny one-room apartment, with its single barred
window and a portable gas stove in the corner that serves as the
kitchen, it was hard to see quite where the advantage lay.[...].
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51401-2003Jul13.html
_____
[11.]
The Aman Trust's
Peace and Conflict Studies Course
Delhi, September 15 - October 15, 2003
See full details of the course at:
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/aman/course.html
Course Structure:
Rubric 1: Ethical and Philosophical Perspectives on Violence
Lead Instructor: Purushottam Agrawal
Rubric 2: Aspects of twentieth century world history
Lead Instructor: Dilip Simeon
Rubric 3: Conflict Issues in the Womens Movement
Lead Instructors: Urvashi Butalia and Kavita Panjabi
Rubric 4: The world order and concepts of conflict
Lead Instructor: Jairus Banaji
Rubric 5 : Contemporary Indian History
Lead Instructor: Arun Kumar
Rubric 6: Law, Conflict and Peace Processes
Lead Instructor: Vrinda Grover
o o o
Prospective participants need to submit the following on or before
July 31, 2003:
a. A personal resume, including the name of any organisation
that you work with
b. The names and contact details of two referees
c. A one-page document on why you are interested in the course
Address correspondence to :
Rishi Iyengar <rishi_amn@yahoo.co.in>
cc: to Susan Abraham <susan@amanpanchayat.org
_____
[12.]
RECENTLY PUBLISHED
AT HOME IN DIASPORA
South Asian Scholars and the West edited by Jackie ASSAYAG and Veronique BE=
NEI
Contributors: PARTHA CHATTERJEE, SHAHID AMIN, RAMACHANDRA GUHA, GYAN
PRAKASH, PURNIMA MANKEKAR, VASUDHA DALMIA, URVASHI BUTALIA, AKHIL
GUPTA, PRASENJIT DUARA, SANJAY SUBRAHMANYAM, ARJUN APPADURAI, SUDIPTA
KAVIRAJ
ISBN 81-7824-063-7 / Rs 495 / 210pp / Permanent Black
In the last decade, the focus in social science scholarship has
moved from the subaltern and the disenfranchised to the social actors
of 'postcoloniality' and 'multiple' or 'alternative modernities'.
This reconfiguration has been accompanied by changes in the structure
of research and academic institutions in the West. There has been an
increasing internationalisation, and much greater visibility for
Third World scholars in locations within the 'developed' world.
The greater presence of these scholars in Western institutions has
helped alter the international division of social science labour.
This book, comprising a blend of autobiography and intellectual
history by some of South Asia =19s foremost contemporary historians and
sociologists, shows that the postcolonial scholar's presence in the
West is a phenomenon worthy of analysis. In particular, the questions
asked here relate to the impact of the intellectual diaspora on
research, both in the West and in South Asia. In showing how the
intervention of scholars of South Asian descent in Western academic
institutions has reconstituted the debate on postcolonialism,
imperialism, globalisation, capitalism, and national traditions, this
book is quite unusual in being simultaneously entertaining,
informative, and thought-provoking about the whole history of South
Asia's scholarly transactions with the West. Jackie Assayag is an
anthropologist and Senior Research Fellow (Directeur de recherche) at
the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, National
Center of Scientific Research), affiliated to the Ecole des Hautes
Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, Paris). He has conducted
fieldwork in South India since and been Director of the Department of
Social Sciences at the French Institute, Pondicherry. Veronique Benei
is currently teaching at the Department of Anthropology, London
School of Economics (LSE). She has published widely in French and
English scholarly journals and has co-edited three books, including
(with Chris Fuller) The Everyday State and Society in Modern India
(2000).
PERMANENT BLACK
Distributed by Orient Longman <http://www.orientlongman.com> Also
available through Bookpoint <thebookpoint@hotmail.com> Ram Advani
Bookseller <radvani@sancharnet.in> Manohar Books <manbooks@vsnl.com>
DK Distributors <dkpd@del3.vsnl.net.in>
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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