SACW | 20 Sept. 2003
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Sat Sep 20 01:11:33 CDT 2003
South Asia Citizens Wire | 20 September, 2003
[1] Sri Lanka: Tamil Democracy Statement: Tamil - Muslim Relations In The East
[2] Pakistan: [National Commission on the Status
of Women] recommendation (Edit., The News)
[3] Afghanistan: Search for Freedom a
documentary film [On Afghan women] by Munizae
Jahangir
[4] India: Letter by AIDWA demands India decriminalise homosexuality
[5] Missionaries tread warily in India (Scott Baldauf )
[6] India: The Babri mosque court case:
- Bellicose Indian courts in face-off with state (Edward Luce)
- Advani free; Joshi, others to be charged (Times of India)
- Reprieve and resignation (Editorial, The Hindu)
- Vandals to the dock (Editorial , The Hindustan Times)
[7] India: A note from Zubaan the not so new feminist publisher from India
[8] India: Delhi University Teachers in Defence of S. A. R. Gilani formed
[9] India: News & Activities Update from ANHAD
[10] India: PHANTOMS a Documentary Film [on the
politics of Hate] by Tushar Joag
[11] India: Revoke rabid Togadia's licence: Medicos (Kavita Krishnan)
[12] Gays in India: Keeping the closet door closed (Siddharth Srivastava)
+ Why should homosexuality be a crime? (The Times of India)
[13] India: Sangh Parivar bars play on untouchability as 'anti-Hindu'
[14] September 2003 issue of Qalandar
--------------
[1.]
Date of Release: September 19, 2003
TAMIL - MUSLIM RELATIONS IN THE EAST
As members of the Tamil community we write to
condemn the escalating violence against Muslim
civilians in the East, and express our concern
about the deteriorating relations between Tamil
and Muslim people in the East. People from all
communities have suffered greatly over the last
twenty years due to the miltiarization of
politics and anti-minority policies at the
national and regional level. Lasting peace
cannot be built on suffering. In this context we
must all work to demilitarize the public sphere
and engender values of pluralism, inter-ethnic
justice and co-existence.
The last twenty years have seen repeated cycles
of violence and counter-violence between the
Tamil and Muslim communities. Historically
tensions between the communities have been
created and exploited by some sectors of the
Tamil and Muslim leadership, as well as by the
Sri Lankan government. Without visionary
leadership that proactively seeks to reverse
these tendencies, peace will not be possible.
Unfortunately, the leadership of the LTTE has not
only failed to curb the tensions between the
communities, but continues to feed Tamil-Muslim
antagonism with political violence against
civilians, economic boycotts and other policies
of ethnic segregation. In this context building
just and peaceful terms for co-existence is a
challenging task and we should not under-estimate
the layers of mistrust, hurt and resentment that
needs to be overcome in both communities.
Whether we are Muslim victims of massacres by
Tamil militants, or Tamil victims of violence by
Muslim home guards, in these contexts and too
many others, our communities have been victimized
by members of the other. Yet inevitably we
remember ourselves only as victims not
perpetrators, and this in turn has left deep
scars on our collective psyches and forging terms
for inter-community reconciliation will be
difficult for all of us.
At the same time, the Tamil and Muslim
communities also have another history that we can
build on; for centuries we have also lived
interdependent and peaceful lives. We have
enriched each others' collective lives with our
distinct but overlapping cultures and traditions
- and indeed our shared language. Even in these
last two decades of violence there are incidents
of extraordinary intercommunity solidarity that
will hold us in good stead in these difficult
times. We recognize moreover, that even when
anti-Muslim policies are cynically unleashed in
our name, we in the Tamil community are also
victimized by those policies - the interdependent
lives of the Tamil and Muslim community cannot be
declared separate by fiat. Ethnic segregation is
not only undesirable, it is also impossible.
Our futures are enjoined and finding common
ground to address the past constructively and
build a demilitarized path to that shared future
is in all our interests.
As victims of majoritarian violence ourselves, we
in the Tamil community should be especially alert
to the injustice and insecurity that minorities
have to struggle against. Moreover, we should not
repeat the mistake of seeing Muslims as a
community that benefits from the State at the
expense of Tamils, rather than recognizing that
while a thin stratum of the community could have
benefited from the anti-Tamil practices of the
State, the majority of Muslims continue to face
tremendous hardships. In this context, we feel a
particular responsibility to speak out when
members of our community persecute the Muslim
community. With members of our community
wielding military power in the region, it is our
responsibility to ensure that other communities
in the East are assured that we will respect
their right to live with dignity and security.
We call on the LTTE and other Tamil political
parties to refrain from communalized politics.
We do not want our suffering manipulated and
deepened. We want to hold those who claim to be
our political representatives accountable when
they carry out destructive policies in our name.
In fact, by speaking out against these policies
we seek to give voice to the initiatives coming
from the bottom-up; for too long we have ceded
control to our ostensible leaders. In calling
for the demilitarization and de-communalization
of politics, we also call then for a dialogue
between members of the Muslim and Tamil
communities, and a commitment by all actors in
the region to the democratization of the public
sphere. As Tamil civilians we seek a democratic
future with peace and justice - a future that we
want to share with the Muslim community.
In this context, we ask the Muslim community to
recognize that there are many in the Tamil
community who oppose the anti-Muslim policies of
some sectors of the Tamil leadership. We write
in solidarity with our Muslim brothers and
sisters, in the hope that we can together build a
common future for our children.
Tamil Democracy
Contact: <tamildemocracy at yahoo.com>
______
[2.]
Editorial, The News International [ Pakistan], September 19, 2003
NCSW recommendation
The recommendation by the National Commission on
the Status of Women (NCSW) for the repeal of the
Hudood Ordinance leaves little doubt about the
discriminatory nature of the set of Islamic laws
that were promulgated by the late dictator Gen
Ziaul Haq and enacted a year later. A part of his
drive to Islamise the polity, coinciding with the
beginning of United States-sponsored Jihad in
Afghanistan, the enactment of the Islamic laws
helped Zia establish his religious credentials
and in return woo the support of the clergy for
the Jihad against the Soviets, direly needed at
the time. But in the longer run, the ordinance
and several other legislative measures by the Zia
regime strengthened the orthodoxy in the country,
squeezing space for secular, liberal and
democratic ideas. The Hudood Ordinance,
controversial since the day one for its potential
abuses more than uses, has left a legacy of
violation of the rights, particularly of women,
defaming Pakistan over its human rights records.
It is not the first time that a government panel
has recommended repeal of the Hudood Ordnance. In
fact, a high-level commission headed by a sitting
Supreme Court judge had made a similar proposal
during the second stint of the Pakistan People's
Party in power, but the then government, facing a
host of establishment-sponsored destabilisation
moves, did not want to open another front by
ruffling the feathers of the clergy. But this
time the government, although non-committal on
the issue so far, will have to think twice before
disregarding the NCSW proposal, for the fact that
the commission is statutory in nature and was
established under a presidential ordinance in
July 2000 to protect and promote the women's
rights and interests. Therefore, the commission's
recommendations have an added significance and
the government will have to give good reason to
act otherwise.
Understandably, the NCSW advice provoked the
religious parties into declaring their opposition
to the repeal, in line with their policy of
confrontation on any effort that they conceive as
an encroachment on their turf. They disagree with
the notion that the Hudood Ordinance is
discriminatory and believe that the problem lies
in the way it is implemented. On the other hand,
the rights groups simply call the statute as an
impediment in the women's way to seek justice for
crimes as heinous as rape. They say that the
conditions for providing witnesses to prove a
crime are so tough that a victim herself becomes
an accused. But all these issues can be best
debated in the parliament, rather than being
sorted out elsewhere.
However, amid the existing political scenario
with growing amity between the religious parties
and the government and their near agreement on
the military-backed political order, political
expediency of the power elites may once again get
a preference over women's rights. That NCSW's
recommendation would be the first victim of such
an agreement may not be surprising. The
government will do well by presenting the NCSW
proposal before the parliament for a debate. If
it is to be rejected, let the parliament do it by
vote. It will at least clear the positions of
various political parties over the issue, making
future choices for the people easier.
______
[3.]
Newsline [Pakistan], September 2003
Film
Women of Substance
Search for Freedom documents the lives of four
Afghan women and their struggle to survive
war-torn Afghanistan.
By Tehmina Ahmed
Search for Freedom, a documentary directed by
Manizae Jahangir, is about four Afghan women and
their struggle to bring some semblance of sanity
to lives disrupted by war.
The women run the gamut of social
class, ranging from the aristocratic Princess
Shafiqa Saroj,King Amanullah's sister, to the
simple village woman, Mohsina, whose husband was
slain by the mujahideen.
Displaced by the rapid changes
overtaking their beloved homeland, the women
focus in on what these changes have meant to
them. Shafiqa Saroj was a reformer in her time,
with her brother, the liberal King Amanullah,
supporting women's desire to step out of purdah
and play a role in public life. In the film we
see her going through family albums, recounting
the story of her royal line. Even as she regrets
the ravages of the mujahideen and the Taliban who
followed them, the princess retains her composure
and sense of proportion.
Mohsina's story is a brutal one, for
she belongs to the Shia Hazara tribe singled out
by the Taliban for retribution. Her village in
Bamiyan province was razed to the ground, all the
men shot in cold blood, leaving the women to
handle their burial. She now lives in a refugee
camp in Peshawar, along with her children. They
have enough to eat, she says, but the joy has
gone out of their lives.
There is Mairman Khadija Parveen, a
rebel of sorts, the first female singer to be
featured on Kabul radio. At 14, she was married
to a man of 85, but separated from him after a
year and a half of marriage. She has 700 songs to
her credit, but the move from Afghanistan has
severed her from her source of inspiration.
Then there is Sohaila, a teacher and
aspiring medical student who works in a RAWA-run
hospital. Sohaila has lived through the dark days
of the Taliban regime and describes how singing
and even laughing in public were banned for
women. Teaching girls was a taboo and her classes
had to be held surreptitiously, the girls coming
in at different times, hiding their books inside
their burqas. She became suspect, and was given a
warning from the Taliban. Sohaila eventually
opted to move to Peshawar.
She is the most articulate and the
most analytical of the four women. Sohaila
eloquently describes the pain of living in exile,
saying, "our spirits are gone and our senses
dulled." Sohaila is glad to see the last of the
Taliban, but does not belong to the school of
thought that claims that all is well in
Afghanistan after their demise. She identifies
poverty as the key issue, saying that women's
problems will not disappear by abandoning the
veil.
The common thread that runs through
the women's lives is not just the displacement
and savagery of war, but the strength and
resilience with which the women have faced their
problems and made an adjustment to the situation
that has been thrust upon them.
The film has a professional touch in
terms of camera work, direction and editing. For
a first film it is a remarkable piece of work.
Manizae, whose mother is the pioneering Asma
Jahangir, is clearly not just a chip off the old
block, but a film maker to watch out for.
o o o
[For those who wish to contact Manizae re her
film here is her e-mail contact address:
"Munizae Jahangir" <Munizae-j at hotmail.com> ]
______
[4.]
LETTER BY AIDWA
To Sept. 18, 2003
The Union Minister for Legal Affairs,
Government of India
New Delhi-110001
Dear Shri Jaitly ji,
The enclosed statement is to express our strong
protest at the Government petition in the Naz
Foundation case. We hope you will consider our
demands.
The All India Democratic Women's Association
strongly objects to the retrograde arguments
advanced by Government to justify the
continuation of Sec. 377 in the IPC. This clause
criminalizes homosexuality as also other sexual
expressions like oral sex, considered "against
the order of nature," and was challenged by the
Naz Foundation in the Delhi High Court. In its
petition, which it has taken two years to file,
the Government's case is that Indian society and
culture does not "accept" homosexuality; it is
further stated that Sec. 377 is necessary to
"provide a healthy environment by criminalizing
unnatural sexual activities" and also, that "it
can open the floodgates of delinquent behaviour"
We on our part maintain that firstly, the
Government does not have any locus standi to
interfere in the private sexual activity of two
consenting adults, regardless of its
interpretation of what is natural or unnatural
sexual behaviour. Secondly, prevailing and
dominant cultural and social norms cannot be
invoked in a manner as to circumvent or restrain
fundamental and constitutional rights. If we were
to accept the government's standpoint then many
of the legislations concerning women's rights and
even dalit rights would never have been enacted
since even today there are many sections of
society who consider wife beating or dowry
practices to be consistent with "tradition and
culture," just as they consider untouchablity to
be the "natural order" of society. Thirdly, even
if one accepted the flawed argument that cultures
and social attitudes have relevance for legal
rights, then it must be pointed out that the
Government petition clearly has a very narrow
reading of culture and social acceptance, because
Indian history is replete with examples of the
accepted existence of homosexuality. In fact our
history and patterns of cultural evolution
reflect a diverse, liberal and tolerant liberal
approach towards sexuality and its expression. It
was criminalized only during British rule.
As far as the Government's argument that Sec 377
needs to be retained because it is also used
against cases of child abuse and is therefore
necessary, this only shows the bankruptcy of the
Government that in spite of repeated struggles
and demands by women's organizations India
remains one of the few countries that does not
have a comprehensive law against child sexual
abuse till date. There is nothing to prevent the
Government from enacting such a law. This should
include, as suggested earlier by AIDWA and other
women's organizations, a clause that criminalizes
non-consensual same sex relations, whether of
children or adults.
The AIDWA reiterates its demand that Sec 377
should be scrapped and that the Government should
enact a comprehensive law against sexual assault
that would include child sexual abuse and
non-consensual sexual contact whether between the
two sexes or the same sex.
Brinda Karat (General Secretary)
______
[5.]
The Christian Science Monitor [USA], September 19, 2003
Missionaries tread warily in India
The conviction Monday of an evangelist's killers
does not ease fears among Christians and
minorities.
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
NEW DELHI - Like many Christian evangelists in
India, the Rev. Richard Howell welcomed Monday's
conviction of 13 radical Hindus involved in the
murder of an Australian missionary family.
In 1999, Graham Staines and his two young sons
were burned alive in their station wagon in the
countryside of Orissa by a mob angry over Mr.
Staines's aggressive evangelism in this Hindu-
majority state.
But despite justice in one case, Mr. Howell says
he and his followers cannot rest easy. Since
Staines's murder, the number of attacks on
Christians and other minorities has actually
increased, he says, and the number of laws
restricting religious practice has gathered pace
across the country. These laws are being pushed
by India's pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party that
holds power in many states and controls the
central government.
"There are attacks practically every week, maybe
not resulting in death, but still, violent
attacks," Howell says. "They [the BJP] have
created an atmosphere where minorities do feel
insecure."
Far more than a mere murder trial, the Graham
Staines case rapidly became a cause célèbre for
human rights groups, secular Indians, and
missionaries. At stake, these groups said, was
nothing less than modern India's founding
principle of secularism that favors no one
religion but protects all.
Conservative Hindu analysts retort that the
murders, while horrible, were a predictable
reaction to secularism run rampant, fortifying
the rights of India's minorities to the detriment
of the Hindu majority and its culture.
It's this very debate - between secularism and
Hindu nationalism - that remains the driving
force of Indian politics today and seems destined
to keep India's many religious groups at odds for
years to come.
"We are seeing a broad attempt to stifle
religious minorities and their constitutional
rights," says Prakash Louis, director of the
secular Indian Social Institute in New Delhi,
which provides health and education services to
India's lower-caste and tribal communities. Mr.
Louis decries the passage of anticonversion laws
in the states of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, and
Tamil Nadu, and other laws that restrict cultural
or religious practices, such as the slaughter of
cows or the eating of beef.
"There is a fascist tendency toward
authoritarianism in this country, and it is not
just the BJP or the Sangh Parivar [a coalition of
Hindu groups]," says Louis, noting that Congress
Party politicians also have spoken in favor of
such laws. "Today, they say you have no right to
convert. Tomorrow, you have no right to worship
in certain places, like the Babri Masjid."
Backdrop of violence
The Babri Masjid, built 500 years ago, was torn
down by a mob of Hindu activists in 1992, an act
that set off riots nationwide that killed
thousands. A special court in Lucknow is expected
to announce Friday whether it will file charges
against several top BJP politicians, including
current Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, for
instigating the Babri Masjid destruction.
Citing the Babri Masjid case and the Gujarat
riots of 2002, which followed the torching of a
train-car full of Hindus by a mob of Muslims,
Hindus argue that the violent riots of the past
decade are the result of pent-up anger by the
Hindu community after hundreds of years of
provocations by a series of invaders, first the
Muslim Moguls and later the British Christians.
In his influential book, "Harvesting Our Souls,"
Arun Shourie writes that India's minorities take
actions that provoke India's Hindu majority.
"The conversion of even an individual causes
grave disruption," writes Mr. Shourie, who now
serves as India's minister for disinvestment of
state-owned industries. "His family is torn
apart. Tensions erupt in the community.... The
individual is led to not just repudiate but
denounce gods and rituals in which he has grown
up."
Targeting the poor
Shourie also notes that while Christians make up
a small percentage of the population, perhaps 2.1
percent in the most recent census, they are
focusing on India's poorest, least-educated
population, especially the Dalit community, who
once were called "untouchables." By some
estimates, Dalits and other lower-caste Hindus
make up more than 40 percent of the population
here in India.
With financial backing from churches in the
world's richest nations, Shourie and other Hindu
intellectuals argue, Western churches can shift
the balance of religion in India forever.
A 1999 visit by Pope John Paul II made many
Hindus suspicious, especially his statement to
attending bishops, "The heart of the Church in
Asia will be restless until the whole of Asia
finds its rest in the peace of Christ, the risen
Lord."
(A spokesman for Shourie said the minister is on
an official trip to Germany, and could not be
reached for an interview.)
Christian missionaries counter that their work
among Dalits provides social and spiritual uplift
to a community that was mistreated by upper-caste
Hindus for centuries.
But what is certain nearly five years after the
murder of Staines is that Christian missionaries
are becoming more careful about how they do their
work. Instead of talking of conversion, for
instance, they speak of "spreading the word of
God."
Ashish Lal, pastor of a small evangelical
community in New Delhi, says, "The government is
slowly tightening a noose across the country,
especially against Christians."
But every Sunday, he goes out into the streets in
Christian neighborhoods and preaches from the
Bible.
"Christianity is conversion," says Mr. Lal, a
self-described End-Time Believer, or one who
believes that the Apocalypse is imminent. "It
brings peace to a Christian to let people know of
Christ."
New unrest
But back in the state of Orissa, police officials
are once again worried that one man's conversion
could be the beginning of communal violence.
This week in the Mayurbhanj district, police were
deployed in a protective cordon around a new
Baptist church being built by a man who converted
to Christianity three years ago.
According to press reports, Baidhara Bindhani and
his fellow convert Sudarshan Das began
construction of a church on Mr. Bindhani's own
land a few weeks ago.
The construction project set off a riot by Hindu
neighbors, 500 of whom reportedly marched to the
site, stole the building materials, and then
forced Bindhani and Mr. Das to drink water mixed
with cow dung for the "purification" of their
souls.
______
[6.]
Financial Times [UK] September 18 2003
Bellicose Indian courts in face-off with state
By Edward Luce in New Delhi
The political future of L.K. Advani, India's
ambitious deputy prime minister, could be
drastically altered on Friday when a junior court
rules on whether he can be tried for conspiring
to demolish a mosque in the holy town of Ayodhya
11 years ago.
If the ruling, repeatedly adjourned over minor
technicalities, goes against Mr Advani, it may
force his resignation and that of others
including M.M. Joshi, minister of education, in
the Hindu nationalist-led coalition government.
The mosque, which Hindu radicals said was built
on the birthplace of Lord Ram, was demolished by
a mob in December 1992, triggering bloody
communal riots across India. Mr Advani, who is
also India's home minister, was then an
opposition politician.
"Deep down there must be doubt whether a junior
court would take such a momentous step, but you
can never rule it out," said A.G. Noorani, a
lawyer and journalist based in Mumbai. "It would
throw India into political turmoil."
But India's judges are no strangers to political
controversy. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court
upset New Delhi's privatisation programme when it
said that the sale of two state oil companies
could only go ahead with parliamentary approval.
Arun Shourie, India's minister for disinvestment,
described the ruling as a "deep setback".
More dramatically, India's Supreme Court will,
also on Friday, cross-question the head of the
civil service and chief of police of the state of
Gujarat. The state government has been under the
court's attack for its alleged failure to ensure
justice for the victims of last year's communal
riots, which killed up to 2,000 Muslims.
The state government appealed after a case, in
which 21 Hindu men were accused of burning 14
Muslims to death in the riots, was dismissed
because 37 of the 43 witnesses withdrew their
evidence. But many believed the government's
action was meant to stop the trial from being
moved to another state.
In an unusually harsh statement, the Supreme
Court last week described the state government's
appeal as a "complete eyewash".
The court will decide whether to move this and
other cases outside of Gujarat to ensure
neutrality. Not one person has yet been convicted
but the court's withering criticism of Gujarat
state has restored hope to some of the victims.
"The judge's words have been like a beacon of
light," said J.S. Bandukwala, an academic and a
Muslim based in Gujarat, who narrowly escaped
death when his house was burned during the riots.
"One by one we have watched every institution of
state, including the police, the civil service
and the Gujarati media, close ranks. The Supreme
Court has greatly restored our faith in India."
Many other groups in India feel the same way.
Over the past 15 years, India's hitherto
conservative judiciary system has become the most
effective check on India's often corrupt and
inept political system.
Under the rubric of "public interest litigation",
courts have permitted individuals with no direct
connection to an issue to file petitions against
the failure of the government or bureaucracy to
implement its own laws. In other words, anyone
can petition the courts to take action on
anything.
"As they say, even a postcard from prison is
enough to stimulate the court's interest," said
G.D. Patnaik, a retired chief justice.
Judges have variously imposed clean fuel
standards on New Delhi, ordered prisons to
improve sanitation, restored land rights to
tribal Indians and insisted the government
provide clean drinking water.
A number of politicians have sought - in vain -
to curtail the use of PIL cases but India's new
era of judicial activism has largely proved
popular with an electorate that is increasingly
disenchanted with its politicians.
"India's constitution is like the five senses,"
said George Verghese, professor at the Centre for
Policy Research in New Delhi. "When one is lost,
the others get sharper. The judiciary is making
up for the loss of political sense and
bureaucratic sense."
However, in the two unusually incendiary and
political cases the court will be dealing with on
Friday, some suspect the judges will not want to
go too far to provoke a powerful government.
"As an English judge once said: 'Public interest
litigation is an unruly horse that must be
tamed'," said Leela Seth, a former judge.
o o o
[Related material :]
Advani free; Joshi, others to be charged Times of India (09/19/03)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=190298
o o o
Editorial, The Hindu, September 20, 2003
http://www.hindu.com/2003/09/20/stories/2003092000631000.htm
Reprieve and resignation
IT IS NOT fully clear yet why the special court
in Rae Bareli discharged the Deputy Prime
Minister, L.K. Advani, in the Ayodhya case when
it framed charges against the Human Resource
Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, and
six other Sangh Parivar heavyweights. The Central
Bureau of Investigation's charge-sheet against
the eight leaders centred on a meeting they held
in Ayodhya on the morning of December 6 1992, a
few hours before the Babri Masjid was demolished.
The eight were accused of making inflammatory
speeches, which the CBI felt attracted sections
in the Indian Penal Code that relate to wanton
provocation, promotion of enmity, public mischief
and unlawful assembly. In Mr. Advani's case, the
Rae Bareli court seems to have been persuaded by
the divergence in statements by witnesses to
conclude that the evidence against the Deputy
Prime Minister was diluted. It remains to be
examined why the charges against Mr. Advani alone
remained at the level of "suspicion" while those
levelled against the seven others were strong
enough to make out a prime facie case.
The answer to this question will become apparent
when the Rae Bareli court's 130-page order is
closely scrutinised. Meanwhile, it is important
to remember that in the context of the shameful
destruction of the Babri mosque, this case - even
if it may cost Mr. Joshi his ministerial post -
is the lesser or more limited one. The main case
against the eight leaders is that they were part
of a criminal conspiracy to demolish the mosque
for which charges were framed as early as 1997.
It is only because of a technical or procedural
flaw that the conspiracy case against Mr. Advani,
Mr. Joshi and others got derailed; a CBI appeal
which seeks to rope the eight Sangh Parivar
leaders back into the conspiracy case is pending
with the Allahabad High Court. In other words, in
the context of the larger legal background of the
Babri Masjid/Ayodhya cases, Mr. Advani's
`reprieve' in the Rae Bareli special court is not
as noteworthy or momentous as some Sangh Parivar
loyalists would like us to believe. Similarly, it
is difficult to see how Mr. Joshi's resignation
can be touted as an act based on principle. After
all, Mr. Joshi had no compunctions about assuming
ministerial office in 1998 although charges were
framed against him in the Babri Masjid demolition
case a year earlier.
Mr. Joshi's declaration that he would resign if
not discharged came one day before the Rae Bareli
court was due to frame charges on the basis of
the CBI's charge-sheet. If it was totally
unexpected, it is because the Bharatiya Janata
Party's position all along has been that the
Ayodhya cases were "politically motivated" and
that those accused need not resign from their
ministerial posts merely because they are
charge-sheeted. Given this, Mr. Joshi's sudden
declaration was viewed as a ploy to capture the
high moral ground and to force Mr. Advani, who
Mr. Joshi regards as his main rival within the
BJP, to do likewise. If this is true, then the
HRD Minister's stratagem did not work with the
Rae Bareli court arriving at the unexpected
decision to discharge Mr. Advani but frame
charges against him and the other accused. The
BJP spokesman has claimed that there was no need
for Mr. Joshi to have resigned, but the Prime
Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, should not be
influenced by such counsel, which tacitly implies
that the resignation should not be accepted.
Allowing those with criminal charges against them
to occupy ministerial office would undermine the
very principles on which the edifice of
parliamentary democracy is built. He must let Mr.
Joshi go.
o o o
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/printedition/200903/detEDI01.shtml
Editorial , The Hindustan Times, September 19, 2003
Vandals to the dock
The instigators of the vandalism which brought
down the Babri masjid are finally facing the
legal consequences of their act.
However, of the two who had set out from Mathura
and Varanasi to be present in Ayodhya on December
6, 1992, along with the other kar sevaks, only
one - Murli Manohar Joshi - has been framed by
the special court in Rae Bareli. The other, LK
Advani, has been let off, presumably because the
evidence presented by the CBI to the court was
not convincing enough. Despite the Centre's
denial in Parliament that it had exerted any
influence on the CBI in the matter, the reprieve
is bound to give rise to a fresh controversy.
This is all the more so because Mr Advani might
have had to resign if he had been served with a
charge-sheet.
Mr Joshi's decision to resign clearly reflects a
principled stand. It has been argued on behalf of
the BJP that no such move is necessary since the
Ramjanmabhoomi movement which led to the
demolition of the mosque was political in nature.
The claim is an absurd one, not least because it
is an admission of the fact that politics, rather
than religion, was the guiding force behind the
agitation contrary to what the BJP is in the
habit of saying. But the main point is that an
act of criminal conspiracy involving the
demolition of an ancient monument protected by
law is exactly that, irrespective of the
motivation. Hence, those responsible cannot take
shelter behind political or religious shields.
It isn't only Mr Joshi who now has long court
battles ahead of him. Uma Bharti, her party's
chief ministerial candidate in Madhya Pradesh,
has also fallen foul of the law, along with
several others. To many of the kar sevaks who
have already been framed, the court's decision is
a judicious one because the leaders of the
agitation should pay the same price as the foot
soldiers. Although it has taken more than a
decade for the blow to fall on those who can now
be considered guilty of that shameful act, the
decision has to be welcomed since it has shown
that those who break the law cannot expect to
live in peace.
______
[7.]
<http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2019/stories/20030926004002300.htm>
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/new/zubaan092003.html
[18 September 2003]
Hi!
In 1984, Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon founded
Kali for Women, India's first feminist publishing
house. Their objectives were to publish quality
work, keep overheads low, and ensure that not
only the content, but also the form of what they
published met international standards. Within
five years of its establishment, Kali had become
self-sufficient. Over the years Kali has come to
be seen as one of the most significant publishing
houses within Indian and internationally. Its
name stands for quality, editorial attention,
excellence of content, and, most importantly, for
providing a platform for women's voices to be
heard.
Now, nearly twenty years later, Kali for Women
will be dividing its activities into two
independent imprints Zubaan and Women Unlimited,
headed by Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon
respectively.
"Zubaan", which means tongue, voice, language,
speech in Hindustani, will initially publish as a
joint imprint with Kali. Like Kali, Zubaan's
focus will be on women, and many of the Kali
backlist titles will continue to remain in print
under a Zubaan/Kali joint imprint.
Zubaan's list will continue focus on the kinds of
books that comprised Kali's core strengths:
Academic and general books
Fiction
Small pamphlets and booklets
In addition, we will be expanding into new areas such as:
More popular books
Books for young people, especially teenage girls and young women.
Picture books
Books in Hindi for a wider market.
We will also be establishing a Book Club and a website soon.
Working with Urvashi in Zubaan, will be
well-known editors such as Anita Roy, Preeti Gill
and Jaya Bhattacharji.
Zubaan is a non-profit publisher, committed to
keeping book prices low, putting back all profits
into developing books - books which we hope will
innovate, challenge, entertain, delight and
inform our readers all over the world.
Zubaan
K-92, First Floor,
Hauz Khas Enclave,
New Delhi - 110016, INDIA
Tel: +91-11-2652 1008, 2686 4497 and 2651 4772
Email: <zubaanwbooks at vsnl.net>
For your convenience and information, we're
enclosing a list of titles that Zubaan is
responsible for, including some of the
forthcoming titles. We'd like to keep you
regularly informed of new titles and for this we
need to update the Zubaan mailing list. Hence,
may we please have the following information?
Name:
Designation:
Company:
Postal Address:
Telephone numbers:
Off:
Fax:
Res:
Mob:
Email:
Website:
______
[8.]
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/new/indefenceofJilani092003.html
[19 September 2003]
Many teachers of Delhi University, and the
numbers are growing, have now formed a forum
called Delhi University Teachers in Defence of S.
A. R. Gilani to draw the attention of the nation
to the palpable miscarriage of justice and denial
of fair trial to S. A. R. Gilani, one of the
accused in the case concerning the attack on the
Parliament on December 13, 2001. The forum
launched a public campaign seeking fair trial and
unprejudiced media coverage with a press
conference held on 18 September at the Press club
of India in New Delhi. A large number of teachers
attended this conference in solidarity. The
following statement was released. The forum also
announced the beginning of a poster campaign to
inform the general public of some of the basic
features of the case. Several other programmes
are currently being planned, including a
signature campaign and a public meeting next week
in the Delhi University campus. Several
distinguished speakers who are well-versed with
the case, the ramifications of the draconian
Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), and the
general atmosphere of fear and prejudice, are
expected to speak in the meeting. The forum
appeals to all citizens of India to form similar
platforms to deliberate on the grave issues
currently facing the judicial and democratic
institutions.
STATEMENT FOR THE PRESS
The Delhi University Teachers in Defence of S. A.
R. Gilani has been deeply concerned about the
denial of justice to a fellow teacher, S. A. R.
Gilani, an accused in the case concerning the
attack on the Parliament on December 13, 2001.
Shockingly, Gilani was convicted by the Special
Court, designated under the Prevention of
Terrorism Act (POTA), and given the death penalty
only on the basis of a telephonic conversation in
Kashmiri with his brother, lasting two minutes
and sixteen seconds. However, the defence argued
that both the procedure and the content of the
translation from Kashmiri to English were
seriously flawed.
No link between Gilani and the five persons who
attacked the Parliament, or with any banned
organization, was established or even alleged by
any of the 80 prosecution witnesses. No arms or
ammunition or incriminating document of any kind
were recovered from his person or his house.
His only crime appears to have been a casual
acquaintance with the co-accused, a fact that
Gilani has never denied. Significantly, these
individuals happened to be from the same
district, Baramullah, in Kashmir; they were also
students of Delhi University where Gilani met
them. Thus, it was only natural that Gilani would
be acquainted with them. The reasoning that a
person is guilty just because he is acquainted
with persons subsequently accused of a crime is
both absurd and tragic.
Our apprehensions about this travesty of justice
is further compounded by the fact that, in the
High Court, the prosecution has now shifted
emphasis from the said call to his brother to
some unrecorded calls with the co-accused. It is
to be noted that Gilani made a written
application to the Court asking for an
opportunity to explain these calls, but this
basic legal right was denied to him.
We also feel that the lack of evidence and
irregularity of procedures is sought to be
substituted by a virulent campaign of
disinformation about the facts of the case. We
note with concern that the media, largely, has
buckled under pressure, and has contributed to
prejudicing public opinion against Gilani by
condemning him even before the trial had begun.
In an amazing violation of journalistic ethics,
one TV channel repeatedly telecast a "recreation"
of the attack on the Parliament based only on the
version of the prosecution in an attempt to
prejudice public opinion. Unfortunately, the
Supreme Court allowed the telecasting of a film
that pronounced Gilani guilty even before
judgement was delivered. It is a matter of great
concern for us that the same film is being
telecast again now when the judgement of the High
Court is due.
To add to the trial by the media, several
fundamentalist organizations have openly
threatened violence against lawyers who have
dared to defend Gilani. Not even a lawyer as
eminent as Mr. Ram Jethmalani was spared when he
decided to defend Gilani in the High Court.
Jethmalani's office was vandalized in Mumbai by
the Shiv Sena.
S. A. R. Gilani is personally known to many of
us. He is a popular teacher and a serious
scholar. Many of us remember his engaging
discussions with students and friends. We also
remember him as a person always willing to give
time to help others.
Gilani's secular credentials are impeccable, and
he has always condemned violence. Even when
convicted by the Special Court and sentenced to
death, he said,
I have always considered terrorism, be it
unleashed by the state or by parties outside the
state, as condemnable and have clearly criticised
it. The killing of innocents, the rape of women,
the murder of justice, these are all the worst
forms of terrorism. Every effort needs to be made
to end this terror.
As citizens, we condemn the attack on the
Parliament in unequivocal terms. We demand that
the perpetrators of this atrocious crime be
identified and brought to justice. But the
cardinal principal of natural justice that every
accused is deemed to be innocent until found
guilty must not only prevail, it should be seen
as prevailing.
In this sense, we believe that S. A. R. Gilani's
case raises disturbing questions even larger than
the fate of an individual citizen. It is a test
case for the Indian legal system and its ability
to deliver justice. In fact, Indian democracy
itself is on trial.
Delhi University Teachers in Defence of S. A. R. Gilani
______
[9.] [News and activity update from ANHAD]
Dear Friends,
After its inception in March ,
2003 Anhad in collaboration with over 100 local
movements/ ngos has organised ten residential
workshops of 5 day duration each to equip local
activists in countering the propaganda of hate.
These workshops have been organised in six
districts of Gujarat, and one each in Delhi,
Rajasthan , Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
The total number of participants who took part in
these is 1265, representing hundreds of small
groups from every corner of these states. More
than 100 organisations helped in making these
workshops possible in terms of providing the
local logistics of picking up the food bills ,
providing space for the stay, lending vehicles
for resource persons, picking up bills for
publishing the material or printing it themselves
in different newspaper offices and so on.
The support to Anhad has been overwhelming and we
wish to thank all those who made it possible for
us to do this work.
Apart from these workshops four workshops for the
students were organised in Ahmedabad. The youth
group is actively working in Ahmedabad and has
been able to get an hour twice a week in number
of colleges, where regular interactions with
students are being conducted.
Anhad hopes to start a regular street theatre
group in Gujarat and also in Delhi within this
month.
Five young students from Delhi who spent their
sumer vacation in Gujarat and successfully
started the youth group there have been able to
gather many more students in Delhi too. Youth for
Peace -a group of young students wanting to make
a difference is being formally launched on
September 27, 2003 in Delhi.
During the workshops in different states and also
interactions with students in colleges and
schools it was very acutely felt that a
large amount of material both print and visual on
themes around the question of communalism is
required in every corner of the country. Anhad
has developed some primers in Gujarati, Hindi and
Telugu, which are highly insufficient.
Keeping this in mind we have decided to produce
12 video cassettes of 20 mnts to half an hour
duration, basically covering all the topics which
Anhad has been covering in the workshops. These
should be ready within 4 months.
Two special workshops are being organised
specially for this purpose in Delhi one in Hindi
medium and one in English medium. Total
proceedings of the workshops will be recorded .
The dates of the workshops are October 8-12,
2003. Venue- Bhartiyam, Scouts and Guides Camp,
Behind Humanyun's Tomb, Nizamuddin. These are
residential workshops and we would take 100
participants in each workshops. Participants will
have to pay for their own travel. Local
hospitality would be looked after by us. The stay
arrangements are very basic.
Those wishing to participate should immediately
contact Anhad, 4 Windsor Place, New Delhi-110001.
Tel - 23327367/ 23327366- <anhadinfo at yahoo.co.in>
The tentative topics that will covered are as
under, exact schedule is being worked out:
Need and urgency to resist the rise of fascist forces
Legacy of the freedom Movement
Formation of the Indian Identity
CITIZENS RIGHTS
· Constitutional values
· Secularism as constitutional right
· Fundamental rights and duties
Facts Vs Myths on
· Appeasement of Minorities
· Anti Nationalism of Minorities
· Demography of the nation [population of the minorities]
· Conversion and Christian Missionaries
Indo-Pak Relations
History of the RSS
Minority Communalism & Majority Communalism
Fascism
Civil Society and State: Lessons from Gujarat
PEOPLE’S ISSUE Vs COMMUNAL POLITICS
Dalit – issue, movement and interrelation with communal politics
Tribal – issue, movement & interrelation with communal politics
Gender – issue, movement & interrelation with communal politics
Communalisation of Education / History/ Media/ Institutions
Ayodhya
Kashmir
Globalisation and Communalism
NOTE: We are contacting many organisations/
individuals for urgent help- be a partner in
organising the workshops-you can sponsor food for
a day/ contribute money, lend a camera for five
days/ give your five days if you are a camera
person/ mid october onwards give your services
free for logging the footage/ editing and
providing free studio space. There are many ways
in which you can contribute and help in making a
difference, money doesn't always make things move
, committment and determination does. Join the
movement to STOP HATRED: just call 23327367/
23327366 or write <anhadinfo at yahoo.co.in> or walk
into the office at 4, Windsor Place( on Ashoka
Road, opp Kanishka Hotel) , New Delhi-110001
Sincerely
Shabnam Hashmi
______
[10.]
Documentary Film:
PHANTOMS
3.5 minutes, Mini DV, 2003
Moving from a Bombay local to an auction of the filmmaker's personal
history, this powerfully insistent video attempts to grasp the manner
in which the emotion of hate operates through some biographical
instances and to understand its relationship to the politics of hate
which we see surrounding us today.
Directed by Tushar Joag
Tushar Joag is an artist living and working in Bombay. He studied at
the Sir J.J. School of Art, Bombay and M.S.U. Baroda. He has
exhibited his work frequently and is a Founder Member of the artists
initiative Open Circle Arts Trust, Bombay
[contact: Tushar Joag in Bombay - Phone nos.: 8400497/ 9820234538 ]
______
[11.]
Mid Day [India] September 19, 2003
Revoke rabid Togadia's licence: Medicos By: Kavita Krishnan
http://web.mid-day.com/news/city/2003/september/64239.htm
______
[12.]
International Herald Tribune [France] , September 17, 2003
Gays in India: Keeping the closet door closed
Siddharth Srivastava
NEW DELHI The Indian government recently
reaffirmed its stand against homosexuality in
India, a move that could drive the gay community
further into the fringes of society.
.
Arguing before the Delhi High Court, the
government argued that "Indian society is
intolerant to the practice of
homosexuals/lesbianism."
.
The government was replying to a petition filed
by the New Delhi-based Naz foundation, which
works for the welfare of HIV positive and AIDS
patients, that had sought to legalize
homosexuality in India. The foundation had
challenged the constitutional validity of Section
377 of the Indian Penal Code, which makes
homosexuality illegal. According to the law,
"whoever voluntarily has sex against the order of
nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be
punished with imprisonment for life, or for a
term that may extend to 10 years."
.
The Naz foundation argued that due to fear of
police action, consenting adult males having
sexual relations were not coming out, thereby
hampering medical intervention.
.
The government's reiteration of the law comes
during a time of hesitant moves by Indian gays to
venture out of their closet existence. In June
this year, more than 100 people marched in a gay
rights parade in Kolkata in a rare display of
activism for one of the country's most hidden
cultures.
.
Braving bemused and at times unsympathetic
responses from hundreds of bystanders, the men -
many wearing makeup and jewelry - waved banners,
including one that said, "Let us love and be
loved." Others waved the rainbow flag, a symbol
of the gay rights movement.
.
It has been a rough ride for gays in India. In
the past, the police have raided health-workers
working with gays charging them for conspiring to
promote "unnatural sexual acts." A few years ago,
"Fire," a movie by top director Deepa Mehta
starring leading actresses Nandita Das and
Shabana Azmi that dealt with the subject of
lesbianism was forcibly pulled out of movie halls
nationwide by right-wing protestors.
.
In popular culture, Hindi movies have dealt with
gay characters, but only as caricatures to be
made fun of.
.
[...]
.
Sylvie, who runs several high-profile beauty
salons in Delhi, is effusive about being a woman
trapped in a man's body. His cross-dressing is
the subject of tabloid photographers, but he has
never admitted to being a practicing gay.
.
The government's position has spurred a whirl of
discussion among gay groups on the Internet. Many
have talked about the changes in attitudes as
well as rights of gays all over the world. The
U.S. Supreme Court has struck down Texas's
antisodomy laws; two provinces in Canada -
British Columbia and Ontario - have ratified
same-sex marriages, while in Britain, homosexual
couples will soon be offered a civil partnership
conferring upon them the same legal rights as
that of heterosexual couples.
.
"At least people should know that we exist," was
one comment on the Internet. "Even the UN
recognizes that being gay is not a disease. We do
not want sympathy and we do not want support. All
we ask for is our right to live our life the way
we want to without hurting others."
.
The most serious criticism is that the
government's position will further marginalize
the gay community in a tradition-bound society.
This will only drive it further underground, with
serious negative consequences in an age when
HIV/AIDS is set to assume pandemic proportions.
.
Section 377 is clearly anachronistic and
regressive and should have been removed from the
statute book a good while ago.
.
The writer is a journalist based in New Delhi.
o o o
[Relevant link from news sources:
Why should homosexuality be a crime? (The Times of India, September 19, 2003)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com:80/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=187403
]
______
[13.]
Deccan Hearld [India] September 19, 2003
Sangh Parivar bars play on untouchability as 'anti-Hindu'
DH News Service BHOPAL, Sept 18
Submitting to pressure mounted by Sangh Parivar
outfits, the Madhya Pradesh government has
forbade well-known theatre personality Habib
Tanvir from staging the controversial play "Ponga
Pandit" during his government-sponsored tour of
the state. Now, Mr Tanvir's theatre troupe will
only stage Asghar Wajahat's "Jisne Lahore nahi
dehkya, woh janmaya hi nahi" during the tour.
Mr Tanvir resumed his tour from Jabalpur on
Wednesday. "Ponga Pandit" was not staged, but the
show still faced aggressive slogan-shouting from
VHP-Bajrang Dal workers. Only a heavy police
bandobast could prevent them from disrupting the
show.
Mr Tanvir, in his statewide tour sponsored by the
state government's Culture department, was to
stage two plays: "Ponga Pandit" and
"Lahore"---the former a scathing attack on the
practice of untouchability and the latter on
Muslim communalism. However, VHP-Bajrang Dal
workers did not allow the shows to take place at
Hoshangabad and Gwalior declaring that "Ponga
Pandit" was anti-Hindu. Mr Tanvir's explanation
that "Ponga Pandit" was a folk play, being staged
in villages of MP and Chhattisgarh for the last
half-a-century fell on deaf ears. "Let him stage
a play about social evils among Muslims. Then he
will learn a valuable lesson", said the leader of
the Opposition in the state assembly Babulal
Gaur.
The BJP made it clear that it would not allow
staging of the play at any place in the state. A
protest march of intellectuals and writers to the
BJP headquarters faced stoning from party cadres.
Chief minister Digvijay Singh made proper noises.
"This is an attack on the freedom of expression.
We won't allow anyone to take the law into their
hands", he declared.
But the government quietly asked Mr Tanvir to
withdraw the drama. "We didn't want trouble. We
didn't want to put Mr Tanvir's security into
jeopardy", said an official of the Culture
department.
______
[14.]
The September 2003 issue of Qalandar is now out.
Do look at it on www.islaminterfaith.org
Contents:
The 'Dalit Muslims' and the All-India Backward Muslim Morcha.
Forming almost a fifth of the Indian population,
the Scheduled Castes or the Dalits, a
conglomeration of numerous caste groups
considered as untouchable, by caste Hindus, are
victims of the most sternly hierarchical social
order that human beings have ever devised. more...
ISSUE
Dalit-Muslim Unity: What's in a Meal?.
Although Muslims and Dalits are among the most
backward and marginalized of communities in India
today, efforts to bring them closer to jointly
struggle for their rights have proved, by and
large, abortive. more...
INTERVIEW
Shaikh Muhammad Karakunnu (Director of the
Calicut-based Islamic Publishing House): On
'Kerala Enjoys Religious Harmony'.
BOOK REVIEWS
Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism
Creating Islamic Feminism Through Literature: Women Claim Islam
Interfaith Theology: A Reader
Regards,
Amna Khaishgi and Yoginder Sikand
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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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