SACW | 3 Aug. 2003

Harsh Kapoor aiindex at mnet.fr
Sun Aug 3 05:39:19 CDT 2003


South Asia Citizens Wire   |  3 August,  2003

[1.] An Open Letter To The President of Pakistan And The Prime 
Minister of India (Pavan Nair)
[2.] India: Snub-Modi missives to Mandela
[3.] India: NHRC: Neither Too Little Nor Too Late (Mukul Dube)
[4.] India: Nanavati Commission Boycott (Digant Oza and Nachiketa Desai)
[5.] India: Sex And Television: Feminists Engage with Censorship 
(Shohini Ghosh)
[6.] Book Reviews:
- Partition and Genocide by Anders Bjorn Hansen (Sudhanya Dasgupta Mukherjee)
- Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime' by Veena 
Talwar Oldenburg (Urvashi Butalia)


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

[1.]

Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2003

Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA)
<http://www.asiapeace.org>www.asiapeace.org
Executive Director: Pritam K. Rohila, Ph.D., 
<<mailto:pritamr at open.org>pritam at open.org>

Please review the following Open Letter on  Siachen by Pavan Nair, a 
retired Colonel from Indian Army. You may also wish to respond 
directly to him at <<mailto:pavannair at vsnl.net>pavannair at vsnl.net>

Best wishes,
Pritam

__

  AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN AND THE PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA

  Let the Guns fall silent in Siachen


Dear Mr President,Mr Prime Minister,

        Citizens of both our countries are looking forward to an 
improvement in our relations.Indeed some steps are already under way 
in this direction.I am taking the liberty of bringing to your notice 
an issue which needs your immediate and urgent attention.An issue 
which must not be put off for reasons of fixing agendas or dates.An 
issue which can be resolved without resorting to lengthy 
negotiations.An issue,if resolved,will lead to the immediate 
amelioration of the suffering of thousands of soldiers who have been 
deployed at punishing altitudes on the Saltoro Ridge.An issue,if 
resolved,could become the model for resolving even more difficult 
issues between our countries.

      I am also taking the liberty of suggesting a solution to resolve 
the issue which has  been taking a backseat vis a vis the Valley 
issue.That the Siachen war has cost our countries many lives and many 
wounded is well known.That the war has not achieved any strategic aim 
for either side is well documented.That the war has cost both our 
countries resources which could be utilized in a better manner is 
also well understood.That both countries want a solution to this 
problem is obvious-otherwise we would not have had seven rounds of 
talks over the years.What is not known is the degree of suffering we 
have inflicted on our soldiers over the last twenty years in this 
conflict without end.

     We have asked our soldiers to serve in an area which causes 
trauma beyond the limits of human endurance.The altitude the soldiers 
are serving at is the cruising altitude of airliners.Perched on crags 
of rock and ice,exposed to the elements,breathing dangerously low 
levels of oxygen ,living a degrading and sub human existence,they 
carry on without complaint. And they will carry on for another twenty 
years if required.They will continue to perform their duty for their 
countries.The issue is that as countries which are progressive and 
fighting extremism - should we be inflicting such punishment on our 
soldier-citizens.There is a strong possibility that all who have 
served at such extreme altitudes would have suffered long term injury 
to body and psyche.It is possible that over two hundred thousand 
soldiers on both sides could possibly have been affected and this 
number is increasing by ten thousand every year.The conditions in 
winter are even more extreme and hence this appeal to look into this 
issue,as yet another winter will soon be upon us.

     The essence of this proposal is to remove troops from the area of 
conflict on the Saltoro Ridge as well as the uninhabitable Glacier 
region without compromising the stated position of either party and 
without conferring any tactical or strategic advantage to either 
side.It is analogous to asking the contestants to return to their 
corners in the ring.It is proposed to create a Human Exclusion 
Zone(HEZ) comprising the Saltoro Ridge as well as the Siachen Glacier 
System which will result in disengagement of troops and their 
deinduction to lower altitudes.

     Mr President,you have said that there are issues more important 
than cricket and commerce which need to be sorted out first.I agree 
with you entirely.In fact,you had mentioned Siachen in your interview 
with Prannoy Roy,but it was not discussed.I would therefore urge you 
to consider this issue without linking it to any other issue between 
our countries.

    Mr Prime Minister,you have shown the magnanimity of an elder 
statesman.I therefore urge you to continue in the same spirit and 
look into the modalities of the proposal suggested below.

1.	A ceasefire to be declared by both countries in the area with 
immediate effect.

2.	India to commence withdrawal from the Northern passes(Indira 
Col,Sia La and Bila Fond La) and complete the process within fifteen 
days.

3.	Pakistan to commence withdrawal from positions opposing the 
Northern areas including Conway Saddle,Baltoro Glacier and Bila Fond 
Glacier and complete the process in fifteen days to or behind a line 
parallel to the Saltoro ridge and five kilometers away from it till 
it meets the Line of Control(LOC).This will form the Western Boundary 
of the HEZ.

4.	Pakistan to commence withdrawal from Southern Areas including 
Gyong La and Chumik Glacier to behind the Western boundary of the HEZ 
within seven days after the completion of Step 3.

5.	India to complete the withdrawal from the Southern Area 
including Gyong Glacier within seven days of Step 4.

6.	The process of demilitarising the Saltoro Ridge to be 
completed by 15 October 2003.No human activity including cattle 
grazing or cultivation will be permitted anywhere on the Saltoro 
Ridge and the Siachen Glacier.

7.	India to commence dismantling camps and facilities on the 
Siachen Glacier and complete a withdrawal from the Glacier upto and 
including its snout by 30 November 2003.The entire Glacier region 
including its tributaries will be included in the HEZ.The Eastern 
boundary will be formed by the Karakorum Ridgeline from Indira Col to 
the East till the line running East West from the Snout of the 
Siachen Glacier

8.	A joint commission to be formed on the lines of the Indus 
Water Commission to monitor the HEZ.The Commission to include 
scientists and environmentalists besides the local military 
commanders from both countries to recommend  measures to revive the 
eco system of the affected area.

      Let not militant strikes deter you from a path you have so 
wisely chosen.That will amount to playing into their hands.Let the 
issue of disputed ownership of an arid wasteland not come in the way 
of getting our soldiers down.They have done their duty.Whether 
Saltoro/Siachen is inclusive to India or Pakistan or both can be 
looked at at some other point in time.We have lost many soldiers on 
both sides-many are suffering-let us not delay the resolution of this 
conflict anymore.All it will take to implement this plan is a 
telephone call from Delhi to Islamabad or vice versa.No protracted 
negotiations,no exchange of maps,no bureaucrats,no ministers or 
generals.All that has been tried on several occasions in the past to 
no effect.

     Let us think of a general ceasefire on the Line of Control and 
International Border after the Siachen withdrawal. Let us think of 
cricket and commerce after we have a ceasefire in effect.Let us think 
of other issues after that.In the meantime,let many  Noors be 
healed.Let diplomatic niceties continue and overflights commence.They 
will have some meaning only if we can begin to sort out what is one 
of the major issues between our countries.

      Mr President, Mr Prime Minister, let the guns fire the final 
salute to the fallen in Siachen and then fall silent forever. I 
appeal to you to take a decision on this issue without any further 
delay.

      With regards.

       A retired Soldier

_____

[2.]

[The below report carries excerpts from some letters that appeared on SACW. ]

o o o

The Telegraph [India]
August 03, 2003

Snub-Modi missives to Mandela

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Mandela: To come or not to come
New Delhi, Aug. 2: Nelson Mandela is being flooded with letters from 
India, urging him not to accept Gujarat chief minister Narendra 
Modi's invitation to attend Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary 
function on October 2.

For Modi and his BJP government, a visit from the South African 
leader - who spent the best years of his life in prison fighting a 
racist regime - will be a badge of honour. Since the outbreak of the 
Gujarat riots last year, the chief minister has walked into one 
controversy after another.

The criticism has picked up with the latest exposures in the Best 
Bakery massacre case, in which the main witness accused a BJP MLA of 
intimidation. Fourteen people were burnt alive when the Vadodara 
bakery was attacked by a mob on March 1 in the riots that followed 
the Godhra train burnings. But the witness' refusal to identify the 
accused led to their acquittal.

Last Thursday, the National Human Rights Commission took up the cause 
of the witness, petitioning the Supreme Court for a retrial and 
transfer of key riot cases out of the state.

Several organisations and individuals within and outside India are 
trying to stall the South African leader's visit. In a letter to 
Mandela, Daniel 'Connor, from England, wrote: "You should stay away 
from the bogus Gandhi celebrations of the present regime in India. 
You should combine a visit with a journey to Gujarat in the company 
of human rights workers - not officials."

"You should visit some of the survivors of the outrage against the 
Muslim (and to a lesser extent Christian) minority. Perhaps, Harsh 
Mander, Indian director of Action Aid, who resigned his senior post 
in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in protest at what 
happened, would be an ideal guide for you," 'Connor added.

Another letter was from Shabnam Hashmi, an activist for peace and 
harmony. "Our appeal to you is to reject the invitation publicly so 
that the hands of those fighting for justice in Gujarat can be 
strengthened," Hashmi wrote.

Letters have also reached the South African high commissioner in 
Delhi, asking him to inform Mandela about all the details of what has 
been happening to Muslims under the Modi regime.

"Nelson Mandela is regarded the world over as a voice that has rung 
out against anything which is draconian and authoritarian. It is the 
duty of every citizen to protest his coming to Gujarat until such 
time that justice prevails," wrote Cedric Prakash, director of 
Prashant, a voluntary organisation in Ahmedabad.

BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi refused to comment. "Nelson Mandela's 
visit is still not confirmed. We do not want to comment on it," Naqvi 
said.

_____

[3.]

NHRC: Neither Too Little Nor Too Late

D-504 Purvasha
Mayur Vihar 1
Delhi 110091

3 August 2003

Dear Editor,

Since the National Human Rights Commission began to visibly act in 
the matter of the Best Bakery trial, first sending a team to Vadodara 
to study what had happened and eventually filing a Special Leave 
Petition in the Supreme Court asking for that case to be tried again 
and for it and the principal other post-Godhra cases to be tried 
outside the state of Gujarat, several people have asked why it did 
not act earlier.
As the lawyer Indira Jaising pointed out on a television show, the 
NHRC had in fact acted earlier. When the first report came in of a 
witness' turning hostile in the Best Bakery trial, the NHRC had asked 
the Gujarat police about the circumstances and about the steps taken 
to protect witnesses from intimidation. It is not known if an 
explanation was forthcoming.
In fairness to the NHRC, we must say that in a state ruled by a party 
which has shown a marked willingness and ability to subvert 
institutions, it cannot have counted much on either the judiciary or 
the police. The second of these, the police, is the more important 
here, being the executive arm of the legal machinery. Even a free and 
independent judiciary would be near to helpless if the police did not 
properly carry out its orders.
My feeling is that the NHRC watched and waited, patiently and in 
silence. It chose not to act when action would be ineffectual. What 
it has now done is to enlarge the issue to something that affects not 
just Gujarat but the entire country's system of justice. It has 
presented to the Supreme Court a strong case for taking action which 
will bypass the High Court of Gujarat for the reason that the 
witnesses who come before that court will be physically situated 
within that state.
If my speculation is correct, in not seeking to prevent a miscarriage 
of justice with the knowledge that it would have a better chance of 
setting things right later, the NHRC has shown a remarkable 
astuteness.

Yours truly,

Mukul Dube

_____

[4.]

Sahara time [English weekly, India]
July 2 , 2003

Nanavati Commission Boycott

Digant Oza
Nachiketa Desai

Ahmedabad: A feeling of despondency prevailed among social and human 
rights activists as Muslim riot victims boycotted the judicial 
commission inquiring the post-Godhra violence in Gujarat. The riot 
victims feared reprisal from the perpetrators of carnage if they 
exposed themselves by speaking out the truth while deposing before 
Justice G T Nanavati and Justice K G Shah who concluded the first 
round of hearing in the worst-effected Ahmedabad city on Tuesday 
(July 22).

Only one witness, Dr. Yunus Bhavnagari, made a sensational revelation 
when he accused former state revenue minister Haren Pandya (later 
slain by some unknown assassins) of having led the attack on the 
Muslims in the posh Paldi area of the city last year. Most other 
witnesses either did not turn up or parroted the well-rehearsed "all 
was well with the police" when Gujarat was on fire line of the 
Narendra Modi government.

"Despite our all out efforts to mobilize witnesses to depose before 
the commission, very few had the courage to come out as they feared 
for their life. The Muslims have come to the grim realization that 
they are at the mercy of the police and goons of the saffron brigade. 
Then, there is also this realization that the judicial commission is 
toothless, without the powers to punish the guilty," said Dr. Hanif 
Lakdawala of Sanchetna, a human rights organization.

The police and those accused of arson, loot and murder, on the other 
hand, goaded dozens of people to depose before the commission. Their 
common refrain was that there was no breakdown of law and order 
during the 'Gujarat Bandh' call given by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad 
and the Bharatiya Janata Party on February 28 to protest the killing 
of 58 Kar Sevaks near the Godhra railway station.

That these witnesses were well-tutored by the police got exposed 
before the commission on the last day of the first phase hearing when 
one of the witnesses, when cross examined, said he had come to depose 
at the behest of the staff of the Madhavpura police station. 
Virtually giving a certificate of 'efficiency and high level of 
commitment to duty', a resident of Madhavpura, Pratapji Thakore said, 
"The policemen worked round the clock to provide security to the 
people." Thakore happens to be a government employee.

Their curiosity having been aroused about such an unusual statement, 
Justice Shah asked the witness as to who had asked him to come to 
depose before the commission. "The policemen from my area had come to 
tell us to depose before the commission," Thakore replied candidly. 
The court burst into laughter.

While human rights and social activists could not much succeed in 
instilling courage among the riot victims to come in large numbers 
before the commission and narrate eyewitness accounts of the gory 
violence they had been subjected to during the anti-Muslim pogrom, 
BJP and VHP workers turned up in large numbers to give their 
depositions. In a frontal attack on the Congress, former municipal 
corporator Kamal Kamalkar of the BJP stated that persons armed with 
swords and other lethal weapons had come in a vehicle bearing the tag 
of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to Shahpur and killed one person.

In the same deposition, Kamalkar was all praise for the police. 
Despite over 100 cases of rioting registered by the Madhavpura police 
station during the post-Godhra violence, all the 151 witnesses, 
except a Muslim woman, claimed before the commission that peace had 
prevailed in their area and that the police deserved a pat for 
performing their duty well.

"If this is the trend of hearing before a toothless commission, one 
can very well imagine how the hearings by the various trial courts 
that are to decide the cases related to serious crimes committed 
during last year's violence must be proceeding," said Digant Oza of 
the Citizen's Initiative, a state-level network of human rights 
organizations.

In the much-publicized Best Bakery case, the session's court of 
Baroda had acquitted all the 21 accused of burning alive 14 persons 
after all the key witnesses had turned hostile allegedly under the 
duress of BJP strongman and MLA Madhu Srivastava. The National Human 
Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman Justice A S Anand had described the 
judgment as 'miscarriage of justice' and sought reopening of the case.

In as many as 37 other cases of serious crime, including the one 
related to the burning alive of 70 Muslims in Sabarkantha district, 
all the accused were acquitted by the court for want of evidence. Not 
only were the witnesses turned hostile in these cases, but the public 
prosecutors too did not perform their duty, alleged Mr. Oza.

In a memorandum to the NHRC, a delegation of state-level NGOs from 
Gujarat has pointed out that the state government has appointed as 
public prosecutors Hindu fundamentalist lawyers with strong links to 
the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

The NHRC's attention was drawn to the fact that Arun D Oza, who had 
contested the assembly election as a BJP candidate was appointed 
government pleader and public prosecutor. Similarly, in the city 
civil court at Ahmedabad, known BJP/RSS workers Sudhir Brahmabhatt, 
Labhubhai Patel, Deepak Sharma, Mahesh Patel and Rajesh Modi were 
appointed additional public prosecutors. In the district court of 
Ahmedabad, government pleader Anil Patel has been appointed the 
government pleader. Similarly, in the district court of Mehsana, 
Dilip Trivedi, the joint secretary of the VHP's state unit, has been 
appointed a government pleader.

The network of state-level NGOs has demanded dismissal of these 
public prosecutors and government pleaders and their trial for not 
having performed their duty in accordance with the law.

e.o.m.

_____


[5.]

Screen [India]		 
July 18, 2003

SEX AND TELEVISION
Feminists Engage with Censorship
Shohini Ghosh

The Troubled Existence of Sex and Sexuality:
"The powerful always seek to limit freedom by talking of the misuse 
of freedom, but freedom cannot be called freedom unless one has the 
right to misuse it... More than evil itself, I have learnt to fear 
the menace of good that comes in the form of improving others..." 
(Rabindranath Tagore from Jibansmriti, Rabindra Rachnabali, cited in 
Nandy 1994) "If you love freedom and like sex, censorship in bad 
news..." (Kathleen Peratis, women's rights attorney, cited in 
Strossen 1995)

In 1993, the BJP and Shiv Sena launched an assault on Bombay cinema 
by disrupting films in mid-screenings; banning stars of Pakistani 
origin and boycotting 'anti-national' stars like Dilip Kumar and 
Shabana Azmi for attending Pakistan Day celebrations.8 The resultant 
'treaty' between the BJP and the Film Makers Combine (FMC) 
recommended steps to curb the 'deterioration of cinema culture' by 
prohibiting 'insult to the Hindu faith'; promotion of 'anti-national 
elements' or 'body exposure'.9 The Hindu right was perhaps quicker to 
sense the subversive potential of popular cinema.

The first major controversy around 'obscenity' was articulated 
through major representational shifts concerning women: the blurring 
of distinction between the 'bad' vamp (Westernized, sexy and 
promiscuous) and that of the 'good' heroine (chaste and virtuous). 
Like most non-conventional 'disruptions', it appeared first in the 
song and dance sequences and was celebrated unabashedly in 'Choli ke 
Peechey Kya Hai...'? (What's Behind the Blouse?) from the film 
Khalnayak (The Villain, 1993).

The 'choli' controversy debated whether or not the song was vulgar 
and obscene. The Hindu right attack against the song was led by the 
Shiv Sena in Bombay and the students wing of the BJP, Akhil Bhartiya 
Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Delhi. A petition was filed in the Delhi 
High Court asking for the deletion of the song from the film and a 
ban on audio cassettes sales. The petition allege that the song was 
'vulgar, against public morality and decency'. After dismissal of the 
case by the trial court, the petitioners went to the High Court with 
the appeal that, left unchallenged, the court's decision would be an 
incentive to depicting increasing vulgarity on screen, which in turn, 
would lead to increasing sexual harassment. The High Court dismissed 
the petition in a 14-page order on the ground that (a) film viewing 
was a matter of choice with no coercion involved; (b) that it was 
'sheer imagination' that the song would lead to eve-teasing, and (c) 
the alleged vulgarity was acceptable to society in keeping with 
'latest developments' in the film world.

Khalnayak features two versions of the 'choli' song. The allegedly 
'indecent' version is sung by two women (Ila Arun and Alka Yagnik) 
and performed by two women (Madhuri Dixit and Neena Gupta) who 
pretend to be prostitutes.10 The second version, with identical 
lyrics and music is sung and performed by men. This version 
culminates in the heroine being intimidated and physically assaulted 
by the male protagonist. Ironically, both the petition and the 
protesters chose to ignore this version. The anxiety regarding 
'increasing sexual harassment' notwithstanding, the protesters 
demanded censorship of not the version that actually depicted 
violence against women but one that represented sexual agency on 
their part.

The ritual of outrage and anxiety around the 'choli' song was 
re-enacted around subsequent songs like 'Sexy, Sexy, Sexy, Mujhe Log 
Bole...' (People Say I am Sexy, Sexy, Sexy) from Khuddar 
(Self-respecting Person, 1993), 'Meri Pant Bhi Sexy...' (My Pant is 
Sexy) from Dulaara (The Loved One, 1993); 'Sarkayleo Khatiya Jara 
Lage...' (Bring Your Cot Closer, I am feeling Cold) from Raja Babu 
(His Lordship, 1993) and similar songs with double-entenders. The 
word 'sexy' placed both the songs from Khuddar and Dulaara in 
trouble. The CBFC asked the director of Dulaara to replace the word 
'sexy' with 'fancy'. Despite AIR's ban, the song topped all 
popularity charts. 'Sexy, Sexy, Sexy, Mujhe Log Bole...' ended up 
being re-recorded as 'Baby, Baby, Baby' even though all private 
television channels continued to broadcast the 'sexy' version.

Organisations that protested against 'obscenity and vulgarity' in 
film songs included the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the 
Centre for Media Studies, the National Commission for Women (NCW), 
the Parliamentary Standing Committee and the Central Board of Film 
Certification (CBFC). Anurag Chaturvedi of the Marathi paper 
Mahanagar and member of the examining committee constituted to look 
into these songs told the press that 'unless this trend is checked 
more songs will be written in the language of the Kamasutra. 
Eve-teasers will be singing them on the streets and there will be no 
one to stop them.11 Justice Ranganath Mishra, Chief Commissioner for 
the NHRC called film songs 'the worst violators of human rights'.

This outrage and panic around 'obscenity' received an impetus with 
the release of the Media Advocacy Group (MAG) report titled People's 
Perceptions: Obscenity and Violence on the Small Screen (1994).12 
Targeting films songs as the 'worst offenders,' the report claimed 
that parents are 'angry and disgusted' at the rising levels of 
obscenity in the media and are unable to control the viewing habits 
of their children. It identifies the 'low-income group male' as the 
most vulnerable to 'negative effects' and assumes that media 
'impacts' directly on the audience.13 Assuming the classic 'culinary 
fallacy' - that people consume wholly and uncritically whatever 
appears on TV - the report constructs the viewer as a vulnerable and 
passive non-agent.

The reportage of this report in newspapers generated more anxiety by 
carrying the 'image blaming' process a step further by concluding 
that 'obscene and vulgar' film songs 'increased eve-teasing and 
harassment' (Rai 1994; Ninan 1994; Kazmi 1994). That 'there seemed to 
be a great fear that young women might start imitating the clothes 
and morals depicted on the screen'.14

Pressured by these groups and following a furore in Parliament, the 
Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry recommended revision of 
the CBFC guidelines in order to curb 'obscenity and vulgarity'. The 
consequent 'revision' added to the already existing list of 
'objectionable visuals' under categories titled Violence and 
Vulgarity that merits being quoted in its entirety.

1. Selectively exposing women's anatomy (e.g., breasts, cleavage, 
thighs, navel) in song and dance numbers, through suggestive and 
flimsy dresses, movements, zooming particularly in close-shots [sic]. 
2. Double meaning dialogues referring to women's anatomy (e.g., 
breasts or apples or some other fruits).3. Stimulation [sic] of 
sexual movements (e.g., swinging of car, cot).4. Man and Woman in 
close proximity to each other or one over the other and in close 
proximity and making below-the-waist jerks suggesting copulation.

5. Pelvic jerks, breast swinging, hip jerks, man and woman mounting 
on each other, rolling together, rubbing women's body from breasts to 
thighs, hitting/rubbing man with breasts, sitting on each others 
thighs and waist with entwined legs, lifting and peeping inside a 
woman's skirt [sic] squeezing woman's navel and waist.6. Vulgar 
kissing on breasts, navel, buttocks upper part of thighs.7. Coins, 
etc. being put inside blouse and other types of eve-teasing as there 
is invasion of privacy of women's body.8. Disrobing women.

The Spiral of Moral Panics
The hosting of numerous post-choli seminars, meetings and revised 
CBFC guidelines notwithstanding, the anxieties around satellite 
broadcasting were not allayed. From 1992 onward moral panics recurred 
regularly.

In 1994, a controversy around obscenity broke out over 
advocate-cum-model Anjali Kapur who had posed in the nude for Fantasy 
magazine. This controversy placed 'pornography' under scrutiny. Later 
that year, the CBFC stopped Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen for its 
depiction of 'sex and violence' and recommended 10 major cuts and 
some general ones. Phoolan Devi herself filed a petition in the Delhi 
High Court demanding the film be banned as it had allegedly violated 
her sexual privacy.

1994 also saw the launch of Shiv Sena's 'clean-up culture' drive in 
Maharashtra. In order to 'repel the attack on [Indian] culture by 
sexual permissiveness', Pramod Navalkar, the then Shiv Sena Minister 
for Cultural Affairs, promised to remove sex and vulgarity from 
advertisements and street hoardings.15 This campaign also saw the 
indiscriminate confiscation of books, magazines and films that 
contained sexually explicit material.

The year 1996 saw a rapid succession of moral panics. In January, a 
controversy broke out around the Tuff shoes advertisement that showed 
a nude couple (models Madhu Sapre and Milind Soman) locked in embrace 
with snake wrapped around their necks. In April 1996, another 
controversy took place over Mahesh Bhatt's statement that those who 
wished to watch pornography had a right to do so. This provoked 
social and women's organisations to demand his removal from the 
governing council of the Film and Television Institute in Poona. In a 
memorandum to the Minister of I&B, prominent members of the women's 
movement demanded Bhatt's removal on the grounds that no citizen, 
particularly someone in an official capacity, can claim the right to 
watch pornography.16 Affirming the 'proven nexus' between 'violence, 
pornography and prostitution' and concluding that pornography 
'debased and commodified' the human body, it argued that while the 
constitutional provision of free speech and expression were 
important, imposing 'reasonable restrictions' were imperative to 
prevent practices that were 'derogatory to the dignity of women'.17 
The memorandum also demanded 'a code of decency aimed at checking 
vulgarity in the electronic media.' Meanwhile, Global Internet Ltd, a 
Chandigarh-based company proposed the launching of an adult channel 
called Plus 21. The mere announcement of the proposed launch provoked 
immediate censure and legal action. Responding to a petition filed by 
the National Commission for Women (NCW), the Delhi High Court asked 
Global Internet to submit a list of its subscribers. Indira Jaisingh 
arguing for the NCW expressed fear that the programmes would be 
'obscene and indecent'.18

Subsequently, metropolitan magistrate Prem Kumar asked Doordarshan to 
stop screening all films,TV serials and advertisements that did not 
have a Censor certificate. The 'directions for compliance' had been 
issued because 'threats to the ageless Indian culture and ethos are 
no less serious than threats to its political sovereignty and 
independence' (The Pioneer, 4 July 1996). The order was in response 
to a petition filed by an inmate of Tihar jail concerned about a 
mosquito repellent and that had used the national anthem. The 
petitioner had also complained about the screening of adult movies 
and serials showing adulterous themes and crimes. Mr Kumar's 
'directions' authorised the police to enter any place of screening 
and exhibition in order to seize 'objectionable material'. A 
subsequent High Court decision stayed Mr Kumar's orders (The Times of 
India, 31 July 1996).

In 1996, the BJP came to power for 13 days with Sushma Swaraj as 
Minister of I&B. Within this brief span, she criticised women 
newscasters in Doordarshan for wearing 'semi-transparent' clothes and 
passed an in-house order banning an advertisement for a music system 
where the woman's skirt lifts momentarily with the music.19 Mrs 
Swaraj also banned a sex education radio broadcast, believing that 
such programmes promote 'adultery'.

In January 1997, the debate surrounding nudity and obscenity 
reappeared with the Bajrang Dal's (youth wing of the VHP) attack on 
an exhibition of the artist M.F. Hussain for having painted goddess 
Saraswati in the 'nude'.20 While the attack was an overtly communal 
one, it was articulated through notions of decency and indecency. In 
1998, a similar outrage was articulated around the Delhi Tourism 
Department's decision to include a photograph of the dancing figure 
of the archaeological site of Mohenjodaro, a common image in 
elementary history books.21

The moral panic also spilled over onto newer communication 
technologies. In May 1997, the cover of Stardust carried a 'morphed' 
photo of Pooja Bhatt with the banner: 'Scoop of the Month: Actresses 
caught NUDE in the net.' The picture, supposedly downloaded from the 
internet, is an excellent illustration of the subjectivity governing 
notions of nudity and obscenity, as the 'nude' actress, Pooja Bhatt, 
is actually wearing a bikini.22

_____


[6.]

[BOOK REVIEWS]

o o o

Seminar [India]  July 2003

PARTITION AND GENOCIDE: Manifestation of Violence in Punjab 1937-1947
by Anders Bjorn Hansen.
India Research Press, New Delhi, 2002.

THERE has been a renewed interest in partition in India in the last 
decade, prompting it to re-emerge as a major area of inquiry 
especially in disciplines like anthropology and history. It has 
produced a vast and diverse body of work and debate. While much of 
this has focused on partition itself and investigated its various 
dimensions - socio-political, emotional and so on, during or 
following it, comparatively much less has been written about the 
conditions prevailing before partition barring a few works like Jaya 
Chatterjee's Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition, 
1932-1947, Suranjan Das' Communal Riots in Bengal 1905-47 and the 
like. The book under review treads fresh grounds as the author seeks 
to explore the nature, changes and manifestations of violence in 
Punjab between 1937-1947.

The author, a historian from University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 
chooses the period 1937-47 in Punjab, a period studied mainly for 
political developments leading to partition to analyse the 
development of communal violence, more specifically tracing the 
changes in the nature of violence from 'traditional' to 'genocidal'. 
Part I - Political Power Struggle and Communalism - in three chapters 
examines the link between political power struggle and the rise of 
communalism in Punjab from the provincial elections in 1937 marking 
the first escalation, through the interim period which saw the 
failure of the Cripps Mission to the provincial elections of 1946, 
and finally the period from the 1946 provincial elections till early 
1947, i.e, end February, when the British government announced its 
withdrawal. Part II, The Internecine Strife, looks at the 
'internecine strife' between the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs from the 
announcement of partition plans in June till the transfer of power 
and independence in August with a special focus on the conditions pre 
and post Rawalpindi massacres in March 1947. Part III, Independence, 
deals with partition and the violence that followed. The concluding 
chapter puts into perspective the findings of the study - the case of 
ethnic cleansing and genocide.

The political pacts, events and their implications/fallouts, 1937 
provincial election onwards, punctuate the study, largely forming the 
backdrop against which changes in forms and nature of violence are 
traced. The author, investigating the changes of violence from 
'traditional' to 'genocidal', harps on issues like the nature of 
inter- and intra-community feuds in the initial years, the gradual 
crystallisation of community identity and consequent political 
awareness changing the community relations and enabling 
political/power relations to influence religious differences. The 
rise and growth of the community-based 'quasi-military voluntary 
groups' added to the separatist tendencies signalling a further rift 
between religion and politics, thus 'effectively completing the 
communalisation process.' Next the author traces the political 
changes which marked an end to democratic interaction and peaceful 
co-habitation with the nature of violence turning to genocidal. The 
'genocidal tendencies' manifest primarily in the persecution of the 
women of one community by the 'other', followed by an outbreak of 
mass , unprecedented violence and 'ethnic cleansing' 'by' and 'on' 
all three communities. With violence becoming more structured and 
organised, there was a total disintegration of the moral/cultural 
order making co-habitation impossible leading to large scale 
uprooting and migration. Partition made this transformation complete.

Meticulously tracing the traits and transformation of violence marked 
by the political events, the book, nevertheless, leaves certain areas 
open for questioning, particularly in holding the League responsible 
for the deteriorating political struggle and the polarisation of the 
communities.

The foreword by Ian Talbot is insightful. The introduction examines 
terms like genocide and communalism, discusses the various debates 
surrounding them, contextualises the study by presenting a brief 
political history of Punjab and offers a review of literature. A 
chronological order marks the structuring of the chapters and the 
organisation of details as they probe the development of communal 
violence. There is also a brief summary at the end of each chapter 
which helps consolidate the points raised. Of particular interest are 
two graphs in the conclusion, the first showing the development of 
violence, from 1937-1946 and the number of casualties, the other 
depicting the massive transformation in the violence, from 
traditional to genocidal between 1937-1947. The study is based on 
primary sources, especially the Fortnightly Reports, about 270 of 
them written between January 1937 and August 1947 from the Chief 
Secretary for the Government of Punjab to the Viceroy and the letters 
from the Punjab Governor to the Viceroy. He has also drawn on two 
previously published sources, Constitutional Relations Between 
Britain and India: The Transfer of Power 1942-1947 (12 volumes) and 
the Selection of Documents on Partition of Punjab 1947 consisting of 
correspondence and reports compiled among officials in East and West 
Punjab. He provides an extensive list of secondary sources, books and 
articles including secondary published material from Pakistan. At the 
end the book lists important persons, private armies and political 
parties relevant to the study which provide easy reference for the 
readers.

Sudhanya Dasgupta Mukherjee


o o o

The Indian Express, August 3, 2003

Dial D for Murder
Veena Oldenburg attempts to bring together academia and activism in 
analysing the dowry death phenomenon, says our correspondent

Urvashi Butalia

In the late '70s and early '80s, feminist groups across India were 
confounded by a relatively 'new' phenomenon: the increasing demands 
for dowry, and the deaths, usually by fire, of young women whose 
families were unable to meet the in-laws' demands. Where, activists 
asked themselves, were these demands coming from? What had changed in 
recent years to give rise to this 'evil'? Was this a phenomenon 
particular to Punjab or Punjabis (where dowry first seemed to have 
reared its ugly head)? Was it, as they learned more about it, a 
middle-class phenomenon? Did it have anything to do with urban 
migration? Or with Partition refugeeism-related greed?

Later, the questions changed to include the anomalies and paradoxes 
that surrounded the deaths of these young women. The burns wards of 
hospitals were - and even today are - full of 'brides' with burns 
that will see no cure. Why were so many being killed? Was dowry, and 
dowry murder, just the flip side of female infanticide? Why were 
there so few convictions? And why did women almost always deny their 
husbands' involvement even if it was clear that they were centrally 
implicated?

Given the speed with which dowry spread across class, caste, religion 
and region, and the fact that it has been such a major concern of 
women's groups, it is surprising how little literature there is on 
it. A small range of academic works jostled with the more activist 
analyses - both in short supply - each trying to explain the 
phenomenon from its particular point of view. Oldenburg's book 
attempts, perhaps for the first time (with the exception of Srimati 
Basu's book on law **), to bring the two together. Whether or not one 
agrees with the conclusions, this is a work that deserves to be read.

Tracing the 'origins' of dowry from the scriptures, marriage rituals 
and Manu's law books, Oldenburg looks at how it changed shape under 
the British. Gender relationships in Punjab (the main focus of her 
study) were transformed as a result of colonial land and revenue 
policies. This, and not some inherent cultural lack, was what led to 
the worsening of the status of women in the Punjab.

Oldenburg shows how dowry is a catchall term that covers a multitude 
of sins. The actual malaise lies much deeper, in the many silences, 
particularly around the area of sexuality, that surround women's 
lives. As her own story - an integral part of her text - shows, the 
violation of the young bride's body not only by her husband but also 
by other male members of the marital family, can lead to situations 
where young women are killed if they represent a threat to this 
privilege, or they kill themselves. A telling encounter with an 
American journalist recounted at the end of the book shows the 
woman's surprise that the 'dowry cases' she has examined are really 
different kinds of violent deaths of women, no more or less exotic 
than domestic violence in New York or London. This comment goes some 
way towards clearing the fog that has surrounded this issue, for the 
question is often asked why mothers-in-law are so central in dowry 
killings, why women, in fact, turn against women. Implicit in this 
story is the truth that in making the mother-in-law the 'fall guy', 
so to speak, patriarchy has once again found a way of protecting its 
own.

* 'Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime' by Veena 
Talwar Oldenburg; Oxford University Press, 2003; 261 pages;

** 'She Comes to Take Her Rights: Indian Women, Property and 
Propriety' by Srimati Basu; Kali for Women, 2001; 305 pages; Rs 350.

_____


[7.]

India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch (IPARMW) Compilation # 128
(3 Aug 2003)
Available at: groups.yahoo.com/group/IPARMW/message/139


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

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on matters of peace 
and democratisation in South Asia. SACW is an independent & 
non-profit citizens wire service run since 1998 by South Asia 
Citizens Web (www.mnet.fr/aiindex).
The complete SACW archive is available at: http://sacw.insaf.net

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

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