SACW | 20 Aug. 2003

Harsh Kapoor aiindex at mnet.fr
Wed Aug 20 05:14:52 CDT 2003


South Asia Citizens Wire  |  20 August,  2003

[1.] View from Pakistan : The Sectarian Menace  (Dr. Iffat Idris)
[2.] Questions over Pakistan prisoners [in India] (Reports from BBC + 
Kashmir Times)
[3.] Hindutva ...derives inspiration from Hitler, Mussolini (Swami Agnivesh)
[4.] London Demonstration Against Narendra Modi (Letter to the editor 
- Dr. Iftikhar H. Malik)
+ Reports of the Upcoming law suit  in London against India's Milosevic
- UK rights activists want Modi arrested (Shyam Bhatia)
- Case to be filed against Modi in London (Hasan Suroor)
[5.] India: Progressive Theatre Director under attack by the Hindutva Far Right
- Sangh Parivar targets Habib Tanvir
- BJP leaders stall Tanveer's play again, can't agree why (Hartosh Singh Bal)
[6.] India: State Repression in the Narmada Valley (Angana Chatterji)
[7.] India: Upcoming Documentary Film screenings
-  The Marad Path : A Probe Into Communal Tactics [in Kerala]  (Aug. 
23, Trivandrum)
- Forging A New Identity : Exploring the changing Muslim community 
(Aug 21, New Delhi)
[8.] A Discussion Forum on Kashmir (Aug. 22, San Francisco)


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

[1.]

Outlook [India]
Web | Aug 19, 2003    

VIEW FROM PAKISTAN
The Sectarian Menace
Accusing outside forces is a convenient way of deflecting attention 
(and criticism) from the authorities' clear failings.
DR IFFAT IDRIS

Sectarian violence is an unpredictable menace in Pakistan: for weeks, 
even months at a time, nothing happens; then all of a sudden there is 
a sectarian massacre. No one can tell when or where the sectarian 
menace will strike next.

On July 4, 2003, it struck a Shi'a imambargah (mosque) in Quetta, the 
capital of the Balochistan province. Worshippers at the Asna Ashari 
Hazara Imambargah were in the middle of Friday prayers when two men 
entered and opened fire with automatic weapons. A third assailant 
then set off a suicide bomb. Dozens of worshippers were killed on the 
spot, while others died later in hospital. The total death toll was 
over 50. All those killed were Shi'as of the Hazara community.

Earlier, on June 8, Shi'a police recruits, also from the Hazara 
community, were gunned down as they were being driven back to their 
barracks in Quetta. Prior to this, the last major sectarian attack in 
Pakistan had occurred in Karachi in February, when nine Shi'as were 
gunned down as they prayed in a mosque.

As all these incidents indicate, the primary victims of sectarian 
violence are members of the minority Shi'a community. Karachi, 
Pakistan's largest city, has been an especial site of sectarian Shi'a 
killings. Such is the scale of the problem there that hundreds of 
professional Shi'as have packed their bags and moved abroad, though 
Sunnis have also been targeted by extremist Shi'as. Furthermore, the 
sectarian menace has gradually spread from Karachi to other provinces 
- notably Punjab, and now Balochistan. Across the country, the total 
death toll in sectarian killings over the past decade runs into 
several thousand.

While seeking an explanation for Pakistan's sectarian menace, it is 
noteworthy that, for decades, the country's Shi'as and Sunnis lived 
side by side without any major problems. Sectarian killings are a 
relatively recent phenomenon in Pakistani society. Their roots, thus, 
lie not in religious differences, but in political and social 
developments within Pakistan and the region. They are intimately tied 
up with the country's wider problem of militant extremist Islam.

The origins of sectarian violence in Pakistan can be traced back to 
the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. American 
funding and Pakistani assistance promoted the proliferation of a huge 
number of militant Islamist groups and madrassahs (seminaries) inside 
Pakistan. Washington needed the Islamists to 'wage jihad' against the 
Soviets in Afghanistan, while Islamabad needed them to bring in 
billions of American dollars. Hence both turned a blind eye to their 
radical ideology and methods.

The shortsightedness of that thinking became apparent immediately 
after the Soviet Union's exit. While radical Islamists in Afghanistan 
formed the Taliban, their brethren in Pakistan turned their attention 
towards Indian Kashmir or to sectarian opponents inside Pakistan. 
Each act of sectarian killing provoked a cycle of revenge killings. 
Civilian Governments failed to curb the menace, either because they 
wanted the militants to fight Pakistan's corner in Indian Kashmir, or 
because they lacked the will and the strength to do so. That failure 
in turn allowed the religious militants to flourish and grow in 
strength.

External factors other than Kashmir also promoted sectarianism. For a 
period, Shi'a and Sunni sectarian groups were sponsored by Iran and 
Saudi Arabia respectively.
These two rivals fought a proxy war in Pakistan. Their support abated 
as relations between Tehran and Riyadh improved, but the sectarian 
groups found other sources of sustenance. They derived ideological 
inspiration (not to mention a base from where to train and launch 
their operations) from the ultra-orthodox Taliban that came to power 
in Afghanistan. The Taliban had strong links with madrassahs in 
Pakistan, so it was little wonder their hard-line thinking influenced 
people there.

The end-result of all this was that when Musharraf seized power in 
October 1999, he faced a formidable foe: well-armed, well-trained and 
well-financed Islamist-sectarian organizations, with a huge resource 
pool of recruits in the country's thousands of religious madrassahs. 
Dealing with such a foe was never going to be easy.

His task was made somewhat easier by 9/11 and the worldwide backlash 
against terrorism and extremist Islam (not to mention the Taliban) 
that it unleashed. Musharraf could strike against sectarian groups 
knowing that public opinion was mostly on his side. Religious 
parties, who would normally be expected to mobilize massive street 
protests against any Government attempt to curb religious activism, 
were now unable to do so.

Pakistan's decision to cut support for the Kashmiri separatist 
movement also boosted its drive against sectarianism. As seen, many 
sectarian groups emerged or were tolerated because of their 
connections with groups fighting in Indian Kashmir. Once Islamabad 
decided to abandon the latter, it no longer had to put up with the 
former.

The first clear sign of a shift in the Government's attitudes came in 
a televised speech by General Musharraf to the nation on 12 January 
2002. The Chief Executive announced a campaign to eradicate the 
sectarian menace. He banned three sectarian groups, Sipah-e-Sahaba 
Pakistan (SSP), Tehreek-e-Jafria Pakistan (TJP), and the 
Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM), and put the Sunni Tehrik 
on notice. He also announced a reform programme for religious 
madrassahs - breeding grounds for religious extremism and 
sectarianism.

Implementing the anti-sectarian drive, however, has been easier said 
than done. As a leading English daily pointed out in its editorial 
the day after the Quetta killings: "Mere condemnations and resolve of 
the kind expressed by the President and Prime Minister are not 
enough. They should prove by deeds that they are capable of rooting 
out the menace of terrorism, especially of the sectarian variety."

Aside from the massive scale of the task - there are thousands of 
madrassahs, tens of thousands of unregulated arms - there are very 
real problems with regard to the capacity of the security forces. 
Whenever an incident like that in Quetta takes place, police are 
quick to make arrests - but those detained are usually scapegoats. 
Very few of the people actually responsible for sectarian killings 
have been captured or convicted. Improving the dismal record of the 
intelligence and security forces requires a huge investment in 
equipment and training - not easy for a country like Pakistan with 
limited resources.

The other knee-jerk reaction among many Pakistanis, especially those 
in authority, is to blame a 'foreign hand' for sectarian violence. 
The July Quetta massacre, for example, was initially blamed on Afghan 
nationals. Accusing outside forces is a convenient way of deflecting 
attention (and criticism) from the authorities' clear failings. But 
it does not help deal with the actual problem, which is primarily 
domestic in origin.

There is also a growing suspicion that the Government's strategy 
could be fundamentally flawed. Banning groups does not render them 
ineffective - rather, it drives them underground and makes them even 
harder to trace and curb. As the attack in Quetta showed, it only 
takes a handful of dedicated extremists to wreak wide-scale carnage 
and destruction. Unless the Pakistan Government can find a way to 
deal with these dedicated sectarian killers, the threat of sectarian 
violence will continue to cast a dark shadow over Pakistani society.


_____


[2.]

BBC
19 August, 2003, 17:03 GMT 18:03 UK 

Questions over Pakistan prisoners [in India]
The Indian Supreme Court has asked the federal government to clarify 
under which law 11 Pakistani nationals have been held in Indian jails 
for more than a decade.

The Supreme Court's intervention came after one of the prisoners 
wrote to the court from a jail in Jammu.
Human rights groups have expressed concern over the fate of some of 
these prisoners.
The Supreme Court has held several hearings over the past three weeks 
on cases related to Pakistani prisoners.

 From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

o o o

Kashmir Times
18 Aug 2003

Pak prisoners in jails

The Supreme Court (SC) directions to state government to produce all 
the records pertaining to Pakistani prisoners in Jammu and Kashmir 
jails speaks of the contemptuous attitude and careless manner in 
which these detenues have been treated by the authorities. The apex 
court's directions have come in view of the observations that the 
alien prisoners in the Indian jails have been deprived of their civil 
rights by the governments because of the hostilities between the two 
neighbouring countries during the past 56 years. It reflects the sad 
state of affairs that afflicts Indian agencies in respect of all 
those Pakistanis who have been captured on one charge or the other 
and then detained for unspecified periods for no fault of theirs.

The court also wanted to know what steps have been initiated by the 
government for repatriation of Pakistanis who are still in Indian 
jails in different parts of the country for the past many years in 
view of the failure of the authorities to do so. Since the SC could 
not locate the names and present status of some detenues lodged in 
Rajasthan jails in the files of the home ministry on Wednesday, the 
former has been forced to seek all the records to ascertain the exact 
position. Apart from these cases, there are many others pending in 
different states of the country in which the Pakistani prisoners have 
been detained and there is no information available about them at a 
central place, which can be relied upon. It shows how non-serious and 
unconcerned we are about the fate of all those alien prisoners in the 
country, thus resulting in denial of basic fundamental rights to them 
which are guaranteed under the Indian constitution.

Though the court has heard the arguments of the government counsel 
that the authorities cannot rely upon its system of sending prisoners 
to their native countries in view of the hostile relations between 
India and Pakistan during the past 56 years, but it has rightly 
observed that the fundamental rights of the prisoners cannot be held 
hostage to hostilities between the two countries. The argument 
isadvanced by the counsel that the Indian authorities have also to 
seek the release of its citizens, who are detained in Pakistani jails 
for minor offences and those who strayed into Pakistani territory. It 
has also rightly observed that some mechanism has to be worked out 
for exchange of prisoners between the two countries in view of the 
fact majority of them happen to be innocents and have already served 
their sentences. This is also true when the court has observed that 
despite shortcomings on the part of the authorities, law is not 
silent on such serious issues and cannot be tak!
  en for a ride if there has been no accountability on these matters.

Rational thinking and prudence demands that both the countries have 
found ways and means mutually acceptable to both the countries for 
exchange of prisoners on regular basis so that the peoples of the two 
nations do not suffer for no fault of theirs. Better sense should 
prevail in both the countries so that mechanism is worked out for 
sending innocents to their homes in the larger interest of the two 
countries.


_____


[3.]

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=29861
The Indian Express
August 19, 2003

TERRORISTS IN SAFFRON
Hindutva is pseudo-Hinduism and derives inspiration from Hitler, 
Mussolini, writes Swami Agnivesh

Hinduism, through which divine light first dawned on the Earth, is 
being poisoned to death. Wearing the mask of Ram bhakti, vested 
interests are misusing and exploiting Hindu religious sentiments. If 
this trend is allowed to continue it is doubtful if, a few years from 
now, Hinduism would be recognisable from other violent and vicious 
ideologies like fascism and colonialism.

Hindutva is Hinduism's internal enemy. In its origin and spirit, 
Hindutva is an atheistical ideology. It derives its inspiration not 
from Ram, Shiva or Krishna, but from Hitler and Mussolini. Hindutva 
is pseudo-Hinduism. It can triumph only by hijacking and degrading 
our religion.

The stormtroopers of Hindutva, of course, want to look like Hindus. 
It is like terrorists wearing army uniforms while attacking an army 
camp. Hindutva is essentially religious terrorism. Its language and 
strategies belong to the world of terrorism, not religion or 
spirituality. Bullying helpless people, murdering innocent women and 
children, intimidating dissent, committing rape, arson and loot are 
what we expect from terrorists, not from religious people.

Hijackers are thieves who pretend to be owners. They take charge of 
something, not because they care for it, but because they want to 
exchange it for money. A plane, for example, is hijacked not because 
the hijackers love the plane. They will happily abandon the hijacked 
plane, when their mercenary goal is attained. That was what the 
Hindutva camp did four years ago. All hijackers plan their strategies 
carefully. The same is true of the hijackers of Hinduism. Let us look 
at some of them.

One, no religion can be hijacked without taking religious icons 
hostage. Ideologues of Hindutva have made Lord Ram a hostage to 
communalism. In this process they degrade Lord Ram, who has stood for 
millennia as a shining embodiment of justice, into a caricature of 
cruelty and aggression. Millions among us were fooled into believing 
that Lord Ram was sulking like a child because a temple was not built 
for him where the Babri Masjid stood. The Hindutva version of Lord 
Ram resembles Ravana. Only Ravana can rejoice over words of 
aggression and strategies of deceit like what the Sangh Parivar 
unleashed in Ayodhya. Hindutva has insulted and caricatured Lord Ram 
more than any other external enemy of Hinduism. We must not allow 
this to go on one day more.

Two, turning gods into hostages demands that symbols associated with 
them be taken over, modified and misused. Temple and trishul are two 
instances of this. There is no mention of temples in the Vedas, 
clearly indicting that in the Vedic vision God does not live in 
structures of stone and lime, but in the hearts and minds of people.

The Hindutva war dance for building a temple for Lord Ram is due to 
its communal eagerness to take possession of Lord Ram. By building a 
temple for Lord Ram - especially in an aggressive and pseudo-heroic 
way - the likes of Pravin Togadia, Ashok Singhal and Giriraj Kishore 
can project themselves as Ram's landlords. Ram, then, becomes their 
tenant.

That is an attractive prospect because the landlords of Ram can claim 
greater religious authority than any other orthodox religious leader. 
As of today, Togadia and Singhal conduct themselves as greater 
religious authorities than all the Shankaracharyas put together.

Yet another example is the hijacking of saffron: our cherished colour 
of spirituality. Saffron is a symbol of the spirit of renunciation. 
Hindutva has degraded saffron into the colour of murder and rape. 
Worse than pseudo-Gandhians who cheapened khadi, sadhus who sold 
themselves to the Hindutva camp have fouled saffron and destroyed its 
symbolic meaning and sanctity.

Three, yet another aspect of Hindutva's hijacking strategy is the 
studied neglect of Hindu scriptures. The real proof that a person or 
group is genuinely interested in Hinduism is the eagerness to 
understand our scriptures and to uphold its spiritual mandate. The 
Hindutva camp is marked by its total indifference to Hindu 
scriptures. They do not respond to issues according to the light of 
the Vedas, Upanishads or the gentle teachings of the Puranas and 
Bhagavatam.

Take the case of Narendra Modi. It was not according to the spirit of 
Lord Ram, Lord Shiva or Lord Krishna, but according to the theory of 
Isaac Newton that he responded to Godhra riots. L.K. Advani, not to 
be left behind, recently explained his anxiety about alleged 
numerical growth of minorities with a reference, not to Lord Ram on 
whose name he rode to power, but to French philosopher Augustus 
Comte. Hitler's Mein Kampf was the source of Guru Golwalker's 
inspiration.

Four, corrupting the culture of Hinduism is a key element in Hindutva 
strategy. This is a serious thing, because more than any other 
religion, Hinduism is a way of life. It is a distinct culture, marked 
by politeness, hospitality, an intricate web of courtesies, values 
and relationships. The sound and fury of Hindutva are in stark 
contrast to all this. A young father, who is aware of this cultural 
degradation inflicted upon us by Hindutva, said the other day that 
whenever Togadia appeared speaking on the screen, he switched off the 
TV. He did not want his three-year-old daughter to see his 
performance and begin to speak like him!

And there is this ardent devotee of the Vedanta in Chennai who said 
the other day, ''If the Singhals and Togadias are the custodians of 
Hinduism, it is time I converted to some other faith.'' But that is 
not the solution. Rather than run away from a burning house, let us 
put out the fire. We are obliged to shout from the rooftops: Hinduism 
is a way of life and within that way of life there is no room for 
communal riots, rape and roguish behaviour. Mercifully, today there 
are growing signs that more and more Hindus are waking up to this 
grave danger. The Hindu voice of protest against Hindutva has been 
rising ever since the massive atrocities in Gujarat.

Whatever else Hindutva is, it is not Hinduism. Communalism and 
religious fundamentalism are signs of sickness; they flourish when 
religions decay and fall into the lap of vested interests. Saving a 
religious tradition from the corrupting stranglehold of communalists 
is a greater and more urgent need than defending a religion from its 
alleged external enemies.

Hinduism stayed safe and steady despite every imaginable threat from 
outsiders. But this is the first time it is facing an organised and 
determined attack from within. When enemies put on the masks of 
saviours, there is need to wake up and resist them.

_____


[4.]

19 August, 2003.

Editor (Letters)
DAWN,
Karachi

Dear Sir/Madam,

-London Demonstration Against Narendra Modi.

I am a bit perturbed over your APP-based report:
"Muslims protest Modi's UK Visit" (DAWN 19 August).
Being part of this significant event, I can safely
claim that other than hundreds of
Muslims--understandably most of them from Gujarat--
protesting outside the Wembley Centre on Sunday, 17
August, there were several other participants as well,
representing different regions, religions/ideologies
and nationalities. Understandably, the Dauds of
Gujarat who lost two UK-born sons while on a visit to
the state last year, were demanding proper
investigation and had quite a few sympathisers with
them flagging banners and raising slogans. However,
the protest was jointly sponsored by several
Muslim/non-Muslim groups in Britain including the
Indian Workers Association, AWAZ, South Asian
Solidarity Group, Council of Indian Muslims, Women
Living Under Muslim Laws, Oxford South Asia Forum,
South Asia Watch, Indian Muslim Federation, Cambridge
South Asia Forum, Asian Women Unite and many others.
Importantly, not all of them are Muslim per se,
neither would some of them like to be put under any
specific communal category. The purpose behind this
protest was not only to highlight the brutalities
committed under the BJP-led state government of
Narendra Modi now on a visit to the UK, but also to
espouse a common cause and solidarity among South
Asians from various walks of life. Thus, to report
such an event merely as a MUSLIM protest against the
Hindtuva regime is, in fact, dangerously
substantiating the BJP-VHP-BNP campaign here in the UK
nefariously aimed at projecting Muslims as the
international culprits and sole trouble makers.
Besides, it is a cruel joke with those courageous and
well meaning South Asian individuals and groups who
resist both the state-led and societal fascism while
taking all kinds of risks solely in the larger
interests of entire South Asia. Thus, I am afraid,
your APP correspondent, whom I certainly did not see
at all the entire Sunday afternoon outside Wembley
Centre, has unwittingly become an instrument of a
vicious communalist campaign. During the protest, when
a woman reporter from The Independent (London) raised
a similar point of this being a Muslim protest, a
gentleman standing next to me observed right away:
"Look, I am a Sikh from India and am here with twenty
others from the Indian Workers Association; it is not
an entirely Muslim event". He brought a few more
protesters of Sikh and Christian background. My
colleague and friend, Dr. Amrit Wilson, a British
Indian academic from SOAS, was there with her family
and friends representing South Asian Solidarity group.
While talking to TV crews she made laudable efforts to
show that other than Muslims, the protest had the full
support and participation of a wide variety of South
Asians and other human rights groups. A couple of
bob-South Asian protesters at the rally also vocally
volunteered to affirm that there were Hindus,
Christians, Dalits, Sikhs and several other
communities at the demonstration though majority of
them were, of course, Muslim Gujaratis.
For God's sake, request your reporter either to be
present at such meetings or not to carelessly rehash
something that may not only be incorrect but could
also have serious repercussions for communal
relationship in Diaspora. It is a known fact that the
above-mentioned fundamentalist organisations are
trying to their hilt to create Hindu-Muslim,
Muslim-Sikh and Muslim-Christian feuds in the United
Kingdom and by misreporting a major event like the
Wembley Demonstration I am afraid the APP has fallen
into the same trap.
With my very best regards,
Sincerely,
Dr. Iftikhar H. Malik
FRHisS

-22 Worcester Place
Oxford OX1 2JW. UK


o o o


Rediff News, August 19, 2003, Tuesday

UK rights activists want Modi arrested

Shyam Bhatia in London | August 19, 2003 20:18 IST

Human rights campaigners say they have submitted an application
before a London magistrate asking for the arrest of visiting
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

A Bow Street magistrate is expected to respond on Wednesday to
claims submitted by three campaigners that Modi and other BJP
officials can be linked to last year's communal violence in the
state in which an estimated 3,000 people lost their lives.

Suresh Grover, one of the three campaigners who will be
represented at Wednesday's hearing, told rediff.com: "We think we
can show a connection between BJP officials, including Cabinet
ministers, to the incidents that took place in Gujarat."

Grover's said his submission to the magistrate has been co-signed
by London School of Economics professor Dr Gautam Appa and fellow
human and civil rights activist Jagdish Patel.

"I think we have prima facie evidence that Modi was present when
certain actions were decided and he subsequently failed to fulfil
his obligations to safeguard the public," Grover added.

The supplicants are pinning their hopes on the precedent that was
created when the visiting former Chile dictator General Augustus
Pinochet was detained in London for five months, pending his
extradition to Spain to face charges of torture filed by relatives
of those who suffered under his regime.

The issue became a political hot potato for the British government
and Pinochet was eventually released and allowed to return home on
grounds of ill health.

Legal experts in London say the magistrate will be within his
rights to issue a warrant for Modi's arrest, but a decision on
whether to execute the warrant rests with the UK's Attorney
General.

Experts said Modi can be questioned by the police, but will not be
charged without the explicit authorisation of the Attorney
General.

Modi is due to leave London for Switzerland on Thursday. On
Tuesday evening he is due to address a meeting of business
leaders, including NRIs, who have been invited to participate in
next month's Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit.

____


The Hindu
August 20, 2003
http://www.thehindu.com/2003/08/20/stories/2003082010981100.htm

Case to be filed against Modi in London

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON AUG. 19. A case seeking prosecution of the Gujarat Chief 
Minister, Narendra Modi, for alleged torture is expected to be filed 
in a London magistrate's court tomorrow on behalf of the relatives of 
two British citizens who were killed by a mob in last year's communal 
violence in the State.

Human rights activist Suresh Grover, who is behind the legal 
campaign, said the case would be filed under the Criminal Justice Act 
U.K., which gives the British courts jurisdiction over cases of 
torture irrespective of where the act was committed or who actually 
committed it. The former Chilean President, Augusto Pinochet, was 
tried under the same Act in Britain a few years ago.

The case would be built around the complaint of Bilal Dawood, a 
British citizen, whose brother Fareed and cousin Shakil were attacked 
by a mob and killed while they were visiting Gujarat. The car in 
which they were travelling was stopped and set on fire while they 
were inside. "All we want is a proper investigation to get justice 
for what happened to them," Mr. Dawood said.

Legal sources said the "challenge" for the petitioner would be to 
establish that the mob that killed the two was working with the 
consent or acquiescence of Mr. Modi or his officials. Though they 
would not be required to prove that Mr. Modi personally took part in 
the torture, the chain of command leading back to him would have to 
be established. "It could be a long shot trying to establish that," 
one legal expert on international law said.

Even if the case is admitted, the consent of the Attorney-General 
would be needed to proceed with it.

There was much confusion today after it was claimed that a case had 
already been filed in the morning. But Mr. Grover told The Hindu: "We 
will be filing it tomorrow before the Bow Street Magistrate's court."


______


[5.]

Deccan Herald
Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Sangh Parivar targets Habib Tanvir

DH News Service BHOPAL, Aug 19

Renowned theatre person Habib Tanvir has become the latest target of 
the ire of the Sangh Parivar's moral police in Madhya Pradesh. 

The VHP-Bajrang Dal-BJP workers did not allow Tanvir's play to be 
staged at Hoshangabad on Monday and at Gwalior on August 16. They 
have vowed to repeat their exploits at all places where Mr Tanvir's 
troupe, "Naya Theatre", travels over the next fortnight. Tanvir and 
his troupe are on a state-wide tour under the aegis of the "MP 
Sanskriti Parishad", a government outfit meant for promotion of 
culture. 

Led by the local BJP MLA Sitasharan Sharma, Sangh Parivar's storm 
troopers threw rotten eggs and chairs on the dais minutes after the 
performance of "Ponga Pandit-Jamadarin" began at an auditorium in 
Hoshangabad, about 70 kms. from here. When the police forced the 
miscreants out, some of them climbed on a electricity pole and 
snapped power supply to the auditorium, forcing abandonment of the 
performance.

On August 16, the performance of the same play was disrupted at 
Gwalior. Even the presence of the district collector and SP in the 
auditorium could not deter the miscreants. After the collector's 
warning had no effect on the slogan-shouting disrupters, cops, 
present in sizeable strength, lathicharged the trouble makers and 
drove them out. The BJP called for a bandh on Monday to protest 
against the use of force. The bandh evoked a mixed response.

The Congress has sternly criticised the "blatant display of fascism" 
and the chief minister has ordered the police to ensure that the 
performances are not disrupted "at any cost".

About a week ago, Sangh Parivar activists had washed the same 
auditorium at Gwalior with "gangajal". That was for the "shuddhi" of 
the auditorium where, social activist Swami Agnivesh had addressed a 
meeting. During the course of his speech, Agnivesh flayed the Prime 
minister for promising to "fulfil the dreams of late Mahant 
Ramchandra Paramhans." "The Mahant was a criminal who was charged 
with sodomy. Instead of vowing to fulfil his dreams, the Prime 
minister should have vowed to fulfill the dreams of the likes of 
Ashfaqullah and Ramprasad Bismil who were hanged to death together," 
the Swami had said.

o o o

The Indian Express
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=29954

BJP leaders stall Tanveer's play again, can't agree why
Hartosh Singh Bal

Bhopal, August 19: After a performance of Ponga Pandit by Habeeb 
Tanveer's Naya Theatre group was called off last night in Hoshangabad 
due to protests led by BJP MLA from Itarsi Sitasharan Sharma, the 
performance scheduled for today in Narsinghpur has also been 
cancelled. Surprisingly, despite opposing the play, the senior 
leadership of the BJP in MP cannot even agree on what they find 
objectionable about the play.

Accusing the BJP of fascism, Habib Tanveer, addressing mediapersons 
in Bhopal, said he would continue with his Sadbhavna Yatra, in the 
course of which the play is being performed. He pointed out that the 
satire Ponga Pandit - or Jamadarin as the play is sometimes called - 
belongs to the Chhattisgarhi oral tradition and has been performed 
since the 1930s. ''It is a classic pointing to the creative powers of 
the ordinary people. It was performed on streetcorners of every 
district in the region by actors usually from the scheduled caste,'' 
he said.

State leaders when contacted gave a bewildering replies. State BJP 
organising general secretary Kaptan Singh Solanki said: ''Ponga 
Pandit and Jamadarin are two separate plays through which bhartiya 
sanskriti pe hamla hua hai.'' When asked what was objectionable, he, 
while admitting that he had not seen the play, said he had been told 
''a man is shown entering a temple with his shoes on. A jamadarin is 
shown striking a Brahmin. This is a direct attack on our sanskriti.''

Former leader of Opposition Gauri Shankar Shejwar, a Dalit, again 
admitting he had not seen the play said: ''I object to the name. It 
clearly shows a desire to drive a wedge based on caste. Panditon ko 
Ponga nahin kehna chahiye (Pandits should not be called Ponga).''

BJP MLA S.C. Sharma, who spearheaded the opposition to a performance 
yesterday, said: ''We had opposed the staging of the play. The SDM 
said if we found anything objectionable he would stop the play. Then 
the play Lahore was staged. When Tanveer said kattarwadi rajneta 
(political extremists) were responsible for the communal riots in the 
state in 1992, the audience then objected.''

Asked if he had seen the play, he admitted he had not. Finally the 
BJP state office was asked for the name of a functionary who had seen 
the play and could voice the objections. The office gave the name of 
BJYM functionary in Gwalior, Yogendra Sanger. According to him: ''In 
the play when an agarbatti can't be found the pandit's assistant uses 
a beedi.''

_____


[6.]

Op-ed, Asian Age, Daily Newspaper, New Delhi, August 20, 2003

State Repression in the Narmada Valley
Angana Chatterji

Villages on the Narmada river are frontlines in the struggle for 
cultural survival. In May 2003, a controversial decision was taken to 
raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam from 95 to 100 meters. 
Waters swirl around Dhankhedi, Anjanwada, Bharad, Kevadia, Nimgavan, 
Mokhdi, Dhanale, Manibeli. The police assault those facing 
submergence, destroying homes, forcibly evicting people, harassing 
activists of the Narmada Bachao Andolan. On July 28, 2003, 74 people, 
including women and children, were arrested in Chimalkhedi village in 
Maharasthra for protesting displacement.

Sardar Sarovar is the largest dam on the Narmada, one of 30 large, 
135 medium and 3,000 small dams planned on the river, whose watershed 
is home to about 20 million peasants and adivasis. The reservoir will 
displace 200,000 people. Canals, colonies and afforestation will 
affect another 200,000.

The river comes unannounced into their fields bringing the stench of 
rotting crops. Siltation levels are dangerous, captive crocodiles 
have killed people. In front of Domkedi village, a red flag flutters. 
Shobha Wagh died on May 22, 2003, trapped in the silt. The very river 
where people bathed, fished, where children played, their greatest 
ally, has turned into their most intimate enemy.

The Maharasthra government claims that it has resettled all project 
affected persons at 100 meters. Untrue. 1,500 families in Maharashtra 
and 12,000 families in Madhya Pradesh are yet to be rehabilitated at 
the 100 meter level. The submergence is devastating the lives of 
people, wildlife and precious ecosystems. The people, treated with 
contempt and disregard by the state, have nowhere to go.

This state of affairs diverges from the conditions of the Narmada 
Project Rehabilitation Policy mapped by the Government of Madhya 
Pradesh. It violates provisions of tribal self-determination directed 
by Schedule V and VI of the Indian Constitution. Such callousness 
defies Convention 107 (and 169 to which India is not a signatory) of 
the International Labour Organisation mandating against the arbitrary 
separation of indigenous peoples from their traditional survival 
resources. It contravenes the conditions of the United Nations 
Charter of Rights for Indigenous Peoples, and disobeys the guidelines 
drafted by the World Commission on Dams.

The response of the state to people affected by the Sardar Sarovar 
dam is a crime against humanity that particularly targets women, 
children, adivasis, dalits and other minorities. This dam is a 
fearsome testimonial to 'progress' in postcolonial India, where the 
voices of the marginalised are drowned out in development planning. 
Their lands and livelihoods are collateral that enable the dreams of 
the privileged, their cultures and practices seen as a hindrance to 
the process of modernisation, insufficiently 'productive', lacking in 
value.

India is intent on building non-viable large dams even as many 
nations are decommissioning them. As water and electricity pulsates 
to Ahmedabad, the Narmada people are left without basic amenities, 
without shelter, clean water, electricity, schools. Where 
resettlement has been attempted, it is flawed. The rehabilitation 
process is deceptive and the people's demand for a written Government 
Resolution (Maharashtra) on Rehabilitation is yet to be met. The Daud 
Committee of 2001 directs land for land rehabilitation, implying 
habitable and cultivable land. Repeatedly, the government's 
resettlement package offers neither. Often the same land is allocated 
to multiple stakeholders.

Last week, on a solidarity visit to the Narmada Valley, colleagues 
and I met with members of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the prolific 
and ethical movement whose commitments since 1985 demand our 
solidarity. We witnessed intensifying resistance as the Satyagraha 
gains momentum. We met Medha Patkar midstream near Jalsindhi. As our 
boats paused next to each other, she smiled and spoke in that 
inimitable way of the struggle ahead that has inspired a generation.

Leaving the Valley we got off the boat near Kadipani, four hours from 
Baroda, and were stopped and interrogated by the Gujarat police. We 
were asked to explain our association with Medha Patkar, and accused 
of coming to the Valley to create disturbances. We were informed that 
in Narendra Modi's state there are new rules and those deemed 
suspicious would be detained. Our visit, we were told, would be 
reported to the government. Another indication of mistreatment in 
'Modi's Gujarat', where the state participates in the intimidation of 
the innocent, in violence against minorities. The very state that was 
an accomplice in the recent murder of Muslims and obstructs justice 
today, continues to abuse the rights of the people of the Narmada 
Valley.

Umesh Patidar, an Andolan activist, was waiting outside the police 
station. As we said goodbye, Umesh Bhai handed us some food, saying 
that we had a long road to travel and should have sustenance. Amid 
all he has to do, amid the horror of his reality, he is caring. It is 
humbling to witness the strength of the Andolan, its refusal to be 
made inhuman. A clash of worlds. One where integrity and 
relationships matter. Another where alienation and greed dominate, 
where there is no comprehension, or tolerance, of difference.

Proponents see the dam as a leap in science and technology. They 
assert that the quality of life will significantly improve because of 
the political and economic decisions made in support of the Sardar 
Sarovar. Treacherous fictions. Struggles over the shape of the Indian 
nation in the Narmada Valley, narrate the irrevocable depletion of 
the country's natural resource base and the brutalisation of the 
disenfranchised. Sardar Sarovar tells a disparaging story of the 
destitution of communities, of persistent and invasive inequities. It 
symbolizes the incapacity of the state to honour lives and 
aspirations that dare to challenge the inequities of globalization 
and the tyranny of dominant development.

Who is accountable? The World Bank withdrew in 1993 without 
redressing the consequences of its involvement. The Governments of 
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat have failed to abide by legal 
norms, the Supreme Court to deliver juridical justice. How little 
democracy functions for the disempowered in India.

The bereaved river rages in despair. Cultural genocide is never 
justifiable regardless of how much 'economic prosperity' results. The 
injustices in the Narmada Valley must be scrutinized by international 
human rights organizations. The government must comply with the rule 
of law. If history chronicles that the people of the Narmada were 
indeed drowned out, with them will die ways of being precious to 
preserving our world, languages, values, spiritualities, imagination 
and memory. And, if we do not speak up we will have been complicit in 
this massacre.

Angana Chatterji is a professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology 
at the California Institute of Integral Studies.


_____


[7.]

CHRO News,
August 19, 2003,

Malayalam Documentary On Marad "Maradinte Vazhikal" : The Marad Path 
: A Probe Into Communal Tactics

Preview Show: August 23, 2003, Saturday, 3.00 pm
Kesari Memorial Trust Hall, Thiruvananthapuram

Duration : 50 minutes

This video report on communalization of Kerala documents the affected 
Marad area, the Araya Samajam there, the refugee camps outside, along 
with versions of about 30 socio-cultural-political-religious leaders, 
advocates, journalists and human rights activists/defenders who 
analyze the history and politics of Marad.

Script : Adv. N. M. Siddiq
Camera Team : Bava, Ranjan Okkal, Manoj Neerkunnam, Siddiq Mattancherry
Music : Nandu R. Kartha
Direction : Nissam Ravuthar

Produced By : Media Research and Development Foundation MES Centre 
Ernakulam North Kochi-682 018 [India]

Phone : 98471-01661 E-Mail : mrdf at rediffmail.com


o o o


Friends
You are invited to the screening of a documentary film


FORGING A NEW IDENTITY

Exploring the changing mindset of the Muslim
community; the modern against the traditional and the
new face of the community.

Directed by Sabia Khan

at 3 PM, on August 21, 2003
India Habitat Centre main auditorium
New Delhi [India]
(A part of the PSBT/UNESCO film festival)

_____


[8.]

This Forum will serve as an Education and a Discussion
Forum on Kashmir; Speakers from India, Pakistan and Kashmir
will critically analyze the historical roots of the conflict
and the way forward from a balanced and liberal viewpoint.

-----------------------------------------------
Topic:  A Discussion Forum on Kashmir

Organizers:
   Dr. Angana Chatterji,
   Professor,  Social and Cultural Anthropology Program
   California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), San Francisco

   Mr. Zulfiqar Ahmad
   Peace and Security Program Officer for South Asia
   Global Peace & Security Program
   The Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development,
   Berkeley

Speakers:
* Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, Professor of Physics, Quaid-e-Azam University,
   Islamabad, Pakistan

* Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director, Kashmiri American Council,
   Washington, D.C.

* Ms. Akhila Raman, Researcher on the Kashmir Conflict, Berkeley, CA

Followed by a Q&A and Discussion with audience.

When:  Friday August 22, 2003: 6 p.m. - 8.30 p.m.

Where:
   Namaste Hall
   3rd Floor, California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
   1453 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

Organized by:
   People for Peace in Kashmir
   Social and Cultural Anthropology Program at CIIS, San Francisco

Supported By:
   Friends of South Asia

* FREE event; Limited seats, arrive early to ensure your seating.

Directions and Parking at CIIS:
-------------------------------------
http://www.ciis.edu/welcome/contact.html

Street parking is easily available around the block after 6 p.m.


About The Forum:
------------------
After 56 years of Indian independence, Kashmir remains
the long-standing unresolved dispute which plagues
the subcontinent and has become the nuclear flashpoint,
bleeding the Kashmiris and the economy of both India and
Pakistan, driving them to a mad arms race.

This forum will strive to present a balanced view on the
Kashmir 'problem' by taking a critical look at the role
both India and Pakistan have played in bringing the region
to its current state.  The focus will not stray far from
the plight of the people of Kashmir, of all communities,
who have borne the brunt of the fall-out from decisions being
made in Islamabad and New Delhi.

The speakers will also address possible ways to resolve the
seemingly intractable conflict in the region so that the people
of Kashmir, including those who have had to flee their homes and
become refugees in India and Pakistan, can start rebuilding their
lives in peace.

--------------------------------------------------------
For more information:
kashmir_forum at mindspring.com

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

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

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