SACW | 24 Sept. 2003 (Bangadesh; India; Terror; Temple; censorship)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire  |  24 September,  2003

[1] Bangladesh is being Pakistanised: Shahriar Kabir (Amitabh Shukla)
[2] The Struggle For A Pluralist Society: Lessons 
from near & far (Praful Bidwai)
[3] A Game of their own: Indian and Pakistani 
students set aside their differences and play a 
weekly game of cricket (Pratul Thaker)
[4] Terrorism as Revenge (Ram Puniyani)
[5] Warning from Rae Bareli : V.K. Singh's 
judgement should give a fillip to secularism
(Kuldip Nayar)
[6] Justice, before we move on (Pamela Philipose)
[7] Terror temple  in Ayodhya: Singhal, Togadia jam in new Ram temple cassette
(Pradeep Kaushal)
[8] Mapping the Enemy: Images of Islam (Shubh Mathur)
[9] Blood on our hands (Nanditha Krishna)
[10] Upcoming public Discussion: The City, Mental 
Health and Women (27 Sept, Bombay)
[11]  Upcoming public meeting The Terror of POTA (25 Sept. Delhi University)
[12] Durable Disorder in the North East of India (Sanjib Baruah)
(See Also: India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch Compilation # 137)
[13] More On The Internet Censorship Underway In 
India:  All Yahoo groups remain blocked

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

[1.]

The Hindustan Times, September 24, 2003

Bangladesh is being Pakistanised: Shahriar Kabir
Amitabh Shukla
September 23

Journalist, film-maker, writer  and human rights 
activist Shahriar Kabir was in India recently to 
mobilise support for the South Asian Coalition 
Against Communalism and Fundamentalism. In and 
out of jail, Kabir spoke to Amitabh Shukla on the 
conditions prevailing in his country and need for 
a platform to fight fundamentalism. Excerpts from 
the interview:

How strong is fundamentalism in Bangladesh?

Under the present regime, fundamentalists of all 
hues have become quite strong. Global Islamic 
terrorist groups have also spread their tentacles 
in the country and this is disturbing for the 
civil society in South Asia. Around 15 such 
groups operate from Bangladesh, including the 
Jaish-e-Mohammad of Maulana Azhar Masood. They 
have the tacit support of the government and are 
spreading the message of intolerance and violence.

What kind of support do you see for South Asian 
Coalition Against Communalism and Fundamentalism?

We held the first conference of the group in 
Dhaka in 2001 and the next conference will be in 
Delhi in end-2003-early 2004. The support has 
been from all sections, including several 
politicians, journalists, activists and 
intellectuals from India and neighbouring 
countries. It was formed because the people who 
are fighting fundamentalism do not have a 
platform of their own while fundamentalist groups 
are organised.

What is the condition of the Hindu minority in Bangladesh?

Their condition is deteriorating by the day. The 
percentage of Hindus in Bangladesh is decreasing 
due to migration. Secularism has been wiped out 
from the Constitution and the extremist groups 
are having a sway. The Hindus are increasingly 
finding it difficult to live in the country as 
the government is looking the other way and 
political parties are shy of supporting their 
cause.

How could this trend be reversed?

We are creating awareness in the country and 
countering the propaganda of the fundamentalists. 
We are getting support from various quarters. If 
secularism becomes the mainstay of Bangla-deshi 
polity, things would turn for the better. The 
government is to blame for the growth of the 
undemocratic forces.

How do the people of Bangladesh see India?

In general, the image of India is quite good. 
They see it as a friend who helped the country in 
the struggle for independence. However, over the 
years, some flawed policy on the part of India 
has distanced the two countries. Ironically, 
Pakistan is now becoming closer to the ruling 
groups. This happened because Bangladesh was 
ruled by the military rulers for a long time and 
the fundamentalists gained control. Bangladesh is 
undergoing an Islamisation and Pakistanisation 
at present. This is violating human rights and 
the spirit of secularism.


______


[2.]

The Praful Bidwai Column
September 22, 2003

The Struggle For A Pluralist Society: Lessons from near & far

By Praful Bidwai

Britain's Conservative Party has done something 
remarkably, indeed dramatically, refreshing. It 
has selected Ms Sandip Verma, a 44-year-old woman 
of Indian origin, to contest the next general 
election from a seat that was held for a long 24 
years by Enoch Powell, the notorious xenophobe, 
advocate of "Little England"-style insularity and 
isolation, and a fierce opponent of immigration. 
Powell's infamous warning in 1968 that growing 
immigration and racial tension would ultimately 
turn Britain's streets into "rivers of blood" is 
probably the single most obnoxious-and 
best-remembered-anti-immigrant remark made by 
anyone in the West. It so shocked the British 
public, and even the Tories, then led by Mr 
Edward Heath, that Mr Powell was sacked from 
their front benches. (He ended up joining the 
even more British-chauvinist Ulster Unionists 
until he died five years ago.)

It is irrelevant whether Ms Verma wins or loses 
from Wolverhampton Southwest. What matters is 
that the Tories have followed Labour and the 
Liberal Democrats in projecting a "modern" 
self-image. Putting up an Indian woman whom they 
describe as  "a candidate of our times", and who 
contrasts sharply with Powell's racist profile is 
their chosen way of reflecting the multiracial 
nature of today's Britain in their party's 
parliamentary slate.

This is a handsome tribute to the notion of a 
multicultural or pluralist Britain, which takes 
pride in its ethnic diversity, its varied customs 
and practices, and its ability to assimilate 
different cultures, languages, modes of conduct, 
or of attire and food. It is a sign of the 
enormous distance the United Kingdom has 
travelled since the 1970s when white-racist 
Skinheads would roam its streets, and immigrants, 
especially from South Asia and the West Indies, 
would run for cover. Most Third World immigrants 
then lived in fear-or in ghettoes. It was hard 
for them to be recognised as White people's 
equals. Books like Dilip Hiro's White British, 
Black British document the systematic 
discrimination that immigrants experienced in the 
1960s and 1970s.

Things have changed greatly in Britain. But it's 
not as if racism is dead or xenophobia extinct. 
There is, of course, "institutionalised racism" 
in state and society, including important organs 
like the police, as recent official reports by 
the police and the Commission on Racial Equality 
confirm. There are entrenched rivalries and 
occasional clashes between extreme right-wing 
neo-Nazi groups like the British National Party 
and immigrants of colour in certain depressed 
areas too. There is Home Secretary David 
Blunkett's proposal to give immigrants compulsory 
lessons in British history and citizens' 
rights/duties. Periodically, the media carry 
deeply prejudiced stories about "asylum-seekers". 
But what has changed is the content of mainstream 
public discourse. It's no longer permissible to 
air one's ethnic or racial prejudices or to 
demand the exclusion of minority groups from 
social or political life.
This has not happened overnight or because 
dominant groups in British society have suddenly 
become tolerant and munificent. The change is, 
above all, the result of a long and bitter 
struggle by the immigrants for equal rights and 
for citizenship, and against racism. When the 
racists would show placards saying "Go home", the 
immigrants would turn around and shout: "We are 
HERE because you were THERE". Later, they became 
even less defensive, and took the bull by the 
horns. They declared: "Our home is London (or 
Birmingham or Bradford)". This was a frontal 
attempt to redefine the meaning of Britishness. 
As novelist Amit Chaudhuri puts it: "It was a 
simple irrefutable argument. 'I'm British,' they 
said, and demanded the inalienable right of the 
British citizen to live in his or her own country 
in peace. The 'Britishness' that was thrown at 
them as a challenge became, redefined, an 
extremely potent counter-reply to the racist."

This struggle had two other important components. 
One was the assertion by South Asians of their 
identity as working class people employed in the 
post office, schools, hospitals and factories. 
Their fights were hard and long. Among the most 
heroic struggles was a two-year-long strike at 
the Grunwick film-processing factory in northwest 
London, begun in 1976, and led by a diminutive 
saree-clad Indian woman, Jayaben Desai. These 
struggles solidly grounded South Asian immigrants 
in Britain's social reality. A second component 
was solidarity with other immigrants, from Asia, 
Africa and the Caribbean, in their fight for full 
citizenship rights. It is through such struggles 
that new bonds and new identities emerged.

That process has not occurred in the United 
States, home to a much larger number of Indians. 
The reason is that the bulk of American NRIs are 
upper middle-class professionals, not working 
people. They are not unionised; indeed most tend 
to be anti-union. Being better off than the 
average White American, they won't fight for 
equality. American NRIs are not particularly 
interested in active participatory citizenship-as 
distinct from the Green Card-unlike their 
second-generation British counterparts. A 
majority of them are content to pursue 
individualistic-and one might say, narcissistic 
and even mercenary-agendas, without a collective 
sense of commitment.

In Britain, the anti-racist struggle has 
gradually reshaped the main political parties' 
attitudes. Labour was the first to respond to it 
by promoting multiculturalism within its 
membership and work culture. Asians are a major 
source of recent Labour victories. Labour has 
created a number of Asian Lords, including 
Meghnad Desai, Bhiku Parekh and Nazir Ahmed. Last 
year, Ghanaian-origin Paul Boateng became 
Britain's first-ever Black Cabinet Minister, 
under Labour. Last year, Pakistan-born Michael 
Nazir Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, narrowly 
missed becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury, the 
top leader of the Anglican Church worldwide. He 
was nevertheless the leading contender.

The Tories have changed too. Now they officially 
say they "celebrate immigration and cultural 
diversity". Last year, the party dismissed MP Ann 
Winterton for narrating a racist joke at a rugby 
club. The "Tebbit Test" of loyalty, about which 
side you cheered in an England vs India or 
England vs Pakistan cricket match, has now become 
a complete joke. Former Tory chairman Norman 
Tebbit's remarks were roundly criticised in the 
1980s too. For instance, The Observer described 
them as "infinitely depressing". But today, 
everyone accepts that Indians settled in Britain 
will "naturally" cheer the Indian side in 
cricket: you can be both politically British and 
culturally Indian.

Britons of South Asian origin are now on average 
better off and perform better at school than 
Whites. Their cultural distinctiveness is 
respected. Diwali parties have become more hip 
and more important in Britain than in India. 
Tandoori chicken and tikka masala have been 
declared Britain's national dishes. (It must be 
noted that they, like "Balti" cuisine, are not 
copies of Indian originals, but have their own 
identity). Stodgy Englishmen, who once used to 
complain of "curry odour" from Indian kitchens, 
now gorge on the very same curries. Although 
Indian participation in Britain's armed forces is 
minuscule, it is growing and accounts for over 
five percent of new recruitment. Britain's first 
state-supported Sikh school opened two years ago. 
Gujarati cultural bodies receive significant 
local council support.

The good news here is not that ethnic Indians 
produce numerous success stories, or that 
Selfridges recently hosted a Bollywood-theme 
shopping festival, but rather that Britain has 
become a relatively successful multicultural, 
plural society. This is a healthy sign of an 
inclusive, relaxed sense of nationhood. It is 
particularly welcome when some people in India 
are still obsessed with false debates about how 
"Indian" Ms Sonia Gandhi is although she has made 
this country her home for decades.

There is a larger lesson here for us. Britain's 
success lies in universalising citizens' rights 
and encouraging active citizenship, through 
participation in public life-regardless of ethnic 
origin or religious belief. Implicit here is also 
a democratic concept of culture and the equality 
of different traditions as regards their claims 
to authenticity. It is only when the bulk of the 
White British, led by the most literate and 
liberal elements in the community, made a break 
with belief in their cultural superiority that 
British society became accommodative and open-and 
less insecure and insular. Multiculturalism is a 
worthy ideal to fight for. It's the best way to 
tap all our people's human potential.

In India, the greatest obstacle to 
multiculturalism is Hindutva and Hindu 
majoritarianism, which places a premium on 
Hinduness and holds Hindu culture to be superior 
to all others. It holds that Hindus must prevail 
by virtue of being a numerical majority. This is 
a repulsively hierarchical and supremely arrogant 
idea, which subverts the spirit of the 
Constitution and the liberal and humane 
principles underlying it. It rationalises the 
exclusion of other groups as if they were 
worthless. And it suppresses the fact that there 
are as many divisions or fault-lines among Hindus 
as, if not more than, between them and others.

Majoritarianism is profoundly undemocratic and 
wantonly destructive of equality and social 
cohesion. It can only breed hubris or a false 
sense of pride while negating all that's valid 
and valuable in India's many plural traditions. 
It will arrest and reverse this society's 
evolution and turn it into a cultural backwater, 
an intellectual swamp, a spiritual cesspool. We 
must not allow ourselves to be impoverished by 
it.-end-


______

[3.]

Daily Trojan, September 23, 2003
A Game of their own: Indian and Pakistani 
students set aside their differences and play a 
weekly game of cricket
  By PRATUL THAKER

Although tensions between Indian Muslims and 
Hindus have erupted in recent years, some USC 
students have found a solution to India's 
conflict in their favorite pastime - cricket.
[...]
http://www.dailytrojan.com/article.do?issue=/V150/N20&id=02-game.20c.html
(This article was published in Vol. 150, No. 20 
(Tuesday, September 23, 2003), beginning on page 
1 and ending on page 13.)

______


[4.]

(From Meantime)
Terrorism as Revenge

Ram Puniyani

The recent bomb blasts in Mumbai (August 25, 2003)
shook the whole city. It has been a long series,
Mulund, Ghatkopar and culminating in the worst one at
Jhaveri Bazar and Cuffe Parade. The reaction to these
dastardly acts has been diverse. While the City of
Mumbai kept moving with some hiccups, the opinion and
reactions of politicians revealed a lot about their
mind set. The Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thckeray called
for the help of LTTE in tackling terrorism, while Mr.
Advani, came up with his oft repeated convenient
accusation that Pakistan is responsible for these
acts. In this simplistic explanation one can
effortlessly conceal the causes of genesis of
terrorism, which his own brand of politics has
unleashed.

In a related event the Muslims of Ahnmadabad went on
for a dayís Bandh in response to the simple leaflet,
which stated the truth that the Muslims are being
regarded as terrorists. The simple leaflet was
innocuous but the hurt psyche of Muslim community
found an expression of their anguish. They suffered
pain and sorrow not only during the carnage but their
misery continues in various forms as the ëHindu stateí
of Gujarat is on the way to fascisisation with
abolition of the citizenship rights for minorities.
The Best Bakery case has transcended all the limits of
democracy and there is nothing an average person of
minorities can look forward to for oneís rights of
living as a decent citizen.

The investigations of the Mumbai blasts have been
starkly revealing. In contrast to Advaniís attempts to
hide the real reasons of the terrorism, the truth
seems to be coming out. The Gujarat carnage, which led
to the loss of lives of around 2000 innocent victims,
which resulted in thousands families being rendered
homeless, which witnessed the violation of the being
of hundreds of women and on the top of that which saw
the child in motherís womb being subject to brutality,
did result in the anger which has taken illogical
directions. One understands the existence of Gujarat
Muslim Revenge group, one is shocked to learn that
many a Muslim youth battered by the inhumanity
perpetrated on their community have been recruited in
large numbers by the existing terrorist outfits.

Just a decade ago the Mumbai riots in the wake of
Babri demolition had seen the bloodshed, which was
coordinated by Bal Thackeray, a close ally of Advani
and Co. During the bloodshed it became clear that the
victims are mainly from the minority community,
despite Congress rule the then Chief Minister of
Maharashtra surrendered to Thavkeray (incidentally he
later joined Thackerayís party also) and let the Shiv
Sena goons go on rampage. This one sided cruelty kept
going on and on. Than one bad afternoon a series of
bombs exploded killing a large number of innocents.
And it seems that after this incident the simmering
violence took some respite.

During the Gujarat genocide many a perceptive
commentators did point out that this violence will
also give birth to terrorists. Of hundred of youth who
see their kith being killed for the only crime of
being a Muslim at least a couple may take this insane
path. Of the hundred of young children who saw their
sisters and mothers being molested some may grow to be
the terrorists, goes without saying. In Mumbai blasts
the new feature is involvement of women, in the
blasts. One knows that when millions of Palestinians
were exiled due to the by the highhanded tactics of
Israel duly supported by United States. The terrorism
sprung up. And one name, which sticks in the memory,
is that of Liala Khalid, a young Muslim girl who took
to this insane path. One also recalls a girl named
Dhanu, a part of LTTE set up, who blew up Rajiv Gandhi
for his supporting the Sri Lankan govt. in restraining
the LTTE.

So who is responsible for the genesis of terrorism? Is
terrorism a religious phenomenon? Is it due to the
members of a single community? How come some people
come to take the steps, which surely are suicidal for
them? Terrorism is basically a political phenomenon.
People belonging to different religious communities
have resorted to it. The prerequisite of this is of
course an intense injustice perpetrated by the
dominant group. Be it Israel, or Sinhala ethnic
politics or the sense of alienation felt by the people
in Kashmir or North East. The sustaing factor for this
phenomenon is the abuse of democratic norms. Terrorism
is an act of extreme desperation where the victims do
not see any light at the end of the tunnel. One
remembers the plight of Kashmiri Pundits at this
point. Comparing the miseries of Kashmiri Pundits with
Palestinian refugees will not be fair. Both are
sipping their own cups of woes and these are not of
the same quality or quantity. The three major points
due to which Islam and Muslims are demonized are
scattered all over. The problem of Palestine is the
major one. It is a mere coincidence that the regions,
which are rich in oil wealth, also happen to be the
regions where followers of Islam are more. These are
also the areas where American Imperialism wants to
control the oil wealth and prop up despotic rulers in
these countries who have nothing whatsoever do with
democracy. The issue of Kashmir has been a matter of
great anguish for the country at large. The initial
policies due to which the dictum of Do Pradhan Do
Vidhan (Two Prime Ministers-Two Constitutions) was
violated resulted in the alienation of large sections
of Kashmiri youth, making them fertile ground for
terrorist ideas and actions.

The rise of Hidnutva, the communal violence has again
resulted in the violence in which Minorities are the
big victims. The lack of justice mechanism, the
failure to implement the inquiry committee reports and
the communalization of civic society has given a deep
sense of hurt to the Muslim minorities. The
demonization of minorities is by now complete due to
the continuous efforts of RSS and its progeny. the
doctoring of mass consciousness has gone to the extent
that average person has come to believe that Islam is
the religion, which promotes violence, and that
Muslims are devils incarnate.

In a way the Islam worldwide is demonized in pursuit
of the Imperialist ambitions of US, more so after the
demise of Soviet Union. Islam has been projected to be
the backward religion. This has been backed up by the
ideologues of Imperialism like Samuel Huntington who
see the present obstacles to Americaís ambitions to
control the worldís oil wealth as a clash between the
advanced Western civilization and the backward Islamic
civilization. Can any civilization be totally dictated
by religion in the current times? What is the
similarity between the civilization of an Islamic
country like Indonesia and Saudi Arabia? What is
common between the Muslim population of Japan or US
and the believers in the cult of Osama bin Laden?

Kashmir is another sore point but it is hardly an
issue related to Islam or for that matters to the
Indian Muslims. Hindutva surely has made great strides
and the original proclamation of the RSS
Sarsanghchalak that Muslim and Christians donít
deserve even the citizenís rights is being implemented
by the saffron eyed boy of Sangh Parivar, Narendra
Modi, with great admiration from the top rulers of the
country as a whole.

So what is primary-does terrorism give rise to
Israel-US policies or US-Israel atrocities result in
Osama bin Laden and his clan? Has Kashmir terrorism
its roots in Islam or in the unresolved Indo-Pakistani
relations and using the people of Kashmir as the
hostages to two supra-nationalisms of Pakistan and
India, is the cause of problem in the valley? Does
terrorism give rise to Gujarat carnage or Gujarat
carnage gives rise to Gujarat Muslim Revenge Group? In
this case theyíre an interesting twist. Mr. Modi will
like us to believe that Godhra ëterrorismí gave rise
to Gujarat carnage. A deeper analysis will show that
Godhra was projected as the terrorist offense to
legitimize in advance the carnage which was planned
much in advance. The Hidnutva and for that matter all
narrow nationalisms do create an enemy to ensure that
their planned actions are projected as revenges to the
original acts. And thatís where the evil genius of Bal
Thackeray and Modi comes in handy to implement the
anti-minority pogroms.

Today the reality has been inverted fully. The causes
remain hidden, subtly glorified, presented as the
solution of their own effects. The victim being
projected as the culprit is the key of those
perpetrating the cult of violence for their narrow
goals of power, social privileges and accompanying
hegemony?

______


[5.]

The Indian Express, September 23, 2003

Warning from Rae Bareli
V.K. Singh's judgement should give a fillip to secularism
Kuldip Nayar

The right or wrong of an action is all that 
morality is. It is how you perceive it. Human 
Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi 
felt that the right thing for him to do was to 
quit if the special court at Rae Bareli decided 
in favour of framing charges against him. True to 
his word, he did so when the judge chargesheeted 
him for his involvement in the demolition of the 
Babri masjid. But then came his party to his 
rescue. As if it has the power to determine the 
dividing line between right and wrong, moral and 
immoral, the BJP put pressure on him to take back 
his resignation because there was no legal 
compulsion for him to do so.

Of course, there was none. When he said he would 
go, it was even before the judgement was 
delivered. It was a tug of conscience. He vowed 
to do what any normal person occupying a high 
position should do. Joshi should, in fact, have 
sent his resignation straight to the president of 
India after the court ruling and gone home. This 
was what Lal Bahadur Shastri did once, when he 
had resigned as the country's railway minister. 
The then prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, when 
he looked for him was told that Shastri had left 
for his home town, Allahabad.

It's strange, therefore, that Joshi should appear 
to be open to entertaining the request by Prime 
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee or Party President 
Venkaiah Naidu that he should stay on; it's as if 
he wants them to prevail upon him to take back 
his resignation. Really speaking, Joshi should 
have resigned soon after the CBI had filed a case 
against him. How does he compensate for the five 
years he has continued to stay in office and 
given decisions which he was not justified to 
make? The matter is no more in the domain of 
moral obligation. It has entered the domain of 
crime because the judge has asked the CBI to 
frame charges by October 10.

Why Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani has been 
let off is, of course, a matter of great 
conjecture. As he has said himself, he is 
clueless about why this has happened. The judge's 
argument is that charges against Advani could not 
be sustained because of conflicting viewpoints by 
witnesses. Moreover, the CBI is, however, yet to 
explain why it withdrew the 'conspiracy' charges. 
Still, it has done a commendable job despite the 
handicaps it has faced in being a wing of the 
government. Recent developments only strengthen 
the case that the CBI should enjoy the same 
autonomy as the Election Commission does. The CBI 
should be made to report to Parliament directly.

The Babri masjid was not demolished on December 
6, 1992. The process of demolition began many 
months earlier when Advani started the rath yatra 
from the Somnath temple to Ayodhya in late-1990. 
He created an atmosphere which made the masjid's 
demolition inevitable. Whether he urged the crowd 
to demolish the masjid at Ayodhya on December 6, 
or did not do so, is irrelevant.

Having always had an eye to communal politics, 
Advani had criticised the "perverse secularism" 
that ran down the movement to build a Hindu 
temple on the site. Conceiving of ways to deepen 
the Hindu-Muslim divide is no movement. As many 
as 2,000 people were killed. It was a diabolical 
plan to hit at India's ethos of pluralism. Advani 
still compares the rath yatra to Mahatma Gandhi's 
Dandi salt march. Whenever he repeated this in 
the Rajya Sabha, I would say: "This is like 
comparing the ridiculous with the sublime". 
Advani should have risen above communal biases 
after becoming India's home minister. But he did 
not. How can he be timber for the prime 
ministership then?

Sessions Judge V.K. Singh of Rae Bareli deserves 
congratulations. His judgement may not be as 
epoch-making as R.K. Sinha's was when he unseated 
Indira Gandhi on a poll offence. Yet V.K. Singh's 
judgement may give birth to a new fervour in the 
country to save secularism from the growing 
onslaught of the comunalists. Just as the 
emergency had awakened people to the ills of 
authoritarianism and made them fight for 
democracy, this judgement may make the Hindu 
intelligentsia in India and abroad sit up and 
take note of the fundamentalism that has 
contaminated the top leaders in the BJP, the 
party which many NRIs based in America and Great 
Britain are today supporting and financing. If 
they have not been woken up by Gujarat, which has 
besmirched our reputation as a tolerant country 
all over the world, the judgement at Rae Bareli 
should serve as a warning bell.

Like the Congress Party which "organised" crowds 
to run down the judgement of Sinha against Indira 
Gandhi, the BJP is whipping up criticism on the 
V.K. Singh judgement. Party leaders are in fact 
making most irresponsible observations. For 
instance, Party President Naidu has said that 
"the case involved political persecution, not 
moral turpitude". By saying so, he does not 
change the gravity of the ruling. What is true is 
that the BJP reaped a political harvest by 
demolishing the masjid and misleading thousands 
of gullible Hindus. The identity of those who 
were persecuted, politically and socially, is no 
secret. They were not Hindus.

It is a pity that the Sangh Parivar will use the 
judgement as grist to its propaganda mill, making 
the atmosphere even more polluted and communal. 
There is already a call for an agitation over 
building the mandir slated for October 15. The 
BJP has no agenda other than the mandir or its 
fallout in the shape of Hindu-Muslim tension. The 
scenario, then, for the next 12 months - with 
state assembly elections in some states followed 
by the Lok Sabha elections - is dismal. It looks 
as if the nation is in for more tribulations. 
That it should happen when the economy is doing 
well and needs peace and stability to grow, makes 
the situation even more tragic.

______


[6.]

Indian Express, September 24, 2003
Justice, before we move on
Or why our Constitution gives the promise of justice top billing
PAMELA PHILIPOSE
: Cancun conqueror, Union Law Minister Arun 
Jaitley, seized the moment with characteristic 
legal panache. Dismissing the charges made 
against Union HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi 
and six others by the Rae Bareli court, he 
pronounced that it was "only a case of an 
unlawful assembly and Section 153 and not a case 
of moral turpitude or corruption".

He makes the crimes committed by the sangh 
parivar's Seven Samurai - the Eighth having 
ridden into the sunset to the music of the 
spheres after having escaped the noose of the law 
for now - sound like minor traffic offences. 
Jaitley is, of course, entitled to his point of 
view but perhaps he should be reminded that this 
case of "unlawful assembly" is not about a group 
of picnickers raising anti-social slogans. It was 
the end result of years of hate politics that 
caused deep social fissures.

This "unlawful assembly" did not just bring down 
an old mosque, it caused the deaths of some 1,000 
people, forced 2 lakh to flee their homes, 
resulted in the destruction of 10,000 homes and 
led to a loss of over Rs 1,700 crore in terms of 
economic activity, as the Mumbai-based Urban 
Development Institute has documented. As for the 
damage done to India's secular democracy, that 
would be impossible to compute because we 
continue to pay the price for it to this day.

Perhaps Jaitley would like us to forget all this 
and move on. Mass amnesia is useful for two 
reasons. Not only does it blunt the shards of 
public shock, anger and despair, it makes 
individual culpability so much fuzzier. 
Incidentally, Jaitley's good friend, Gujarat 
Chief Minister Narendra Modi, also wants his 
state to move on, make lots of money and become 
"vibrant" once again. The Shiv Sena-BJP 
government made a similar plea when it scuttled 
the Srikrishna Commission on the Mumbai 
riots/blasts in 1996: Hindus and Muslims are 
living in peace and the Commission is only 
reopening old wounds, so let's wind it up and get 
on with life, it argued.

Interestingly, the "let's move on" school of 
thought hinges its argument on the inevitability 
of pogroms and riots, ending up ultimately in 
justifying them. Shiv Sena henchman and 
riot-accused, Madhukar Sarpotdar, argued before 
the Srikrishna Commission that "the killing of 
innocents in a remote area in retaliation for the 
killing of innocents elsewhere was justified and 
natural".

It was the same logic Narendra Modi had advanced 
last March, even as the killings in his state 
went on apace. Then there is that quotable quote 
from Rajiv Gandhi, with regard to the anti-Sikh 
riots that followed his mother's death: When a 
big tree falls there are bound to be some tremors.

In other words, so what if 2,733 people got 
killed? Let's move on. There would be many who 
find the "let's move on" line of reasoning 
compelling, even if they find riots in themselves 
appalling. What has happened, has happened, they 
will say. Now that there is peace, let's forget 
the past and move on, because there are so many 
important things to do. Memory is, indeed, an 
encumbrance in this "distracted globe".

But there are crucial reasons why the law should 
take its course, why the judicial process must 
not become a casualty of politics or executive 
will. For one, it plays a pivotal role in a 
democracy.

The late American philosopher John Rawls in his 
work entitled, A Theory of Justice, believed that 
a shared conception of justice and equality was 
the basis of social cooperation. It would be 
impossible, he argued, for people from diverse 
backgrounds and with different aims and purposes, 
to exist together in a society if they were not 
endowed with "two moral powers" - the capacity 
for a sense of "justice" and an idea of the 
"good".

These together make "fair cooperation" within 
society possible. Rawls considers a "well-ordered 
society" as one that is not only designed to 
advance the good of its members but one that is 
regulated by a public conception of justice. This 
conception of justice goes beyond individuals to 
inform the working of social institutions.

The framers of the Indian Constitution may not 
have read Rawls, but they nevertheless gave 
justice top billing. Justice - "social, economic 
and political" - was the first promise made to 
the citizens of this country in the Preamble to 
the Constitution.

Animating that promise has become Indian 
democracy's single biggest challenge. The Sixth 
Report of the National Police Commission 
recognised the enormity of the task: "Once the 
law-abiding citizen doubts the capability of the 
law to protect him, he is likely to seek other 
avenues for protection and thus a person who 
should

normally be a counter rioter is pushed by 
injudicious action into the very vortex of the 
riot... The investigation and successful 
prosecution of a crime prevents further crimes 
and discourages potential criminals. It also 
restores the confidence of the people in the rule 
of law."

The abyss stares us in the face. Every time, a 
minister of law undermines a judicial verdict and 
defends a guilty party colleague, every time the 
counsel of a state government justifies its 
failure to deliver justice, we come closer to 
that abyss.

Some ten days ago, the counsel for the Gujarat 
state government actually argued before the 
Supreme Court that what happened in the Best 
Bakery Case should cause no surprise given the 
"shortcomings" in India's criminal justice system 
which have resulted in rioters being let off the 
hook over the last 40 years.

Fortunately, Chief Justice V.N. Khare was quick 
to catch the drift of his argument. "Do you mean 
to say the rioters in Gujarat should also be 
acquitted?" he asked. That was exactly what the 
counsel had meant but the chief justice would, of 
course, have none of it. As he reminded the 
unfortunate man: "You have to protect the people 
and punish the guilty. What else is rajdharma? 
You quit if you cannot prosecute the guilty."

In this season of judicial interventions 
involving a whole battery of communal crimes, 
whether it is the Supreme Court's observations in 
the Best Bakery Case, or the Khurda district 
court's sentencing of Dara Singh and his 
accomplices in the killing of Graham Staines and 
his two sons, or indeed the Rae Bareli verdict on 
Ayodhya, it would be useful to reiterate a basic 
principle. That in a democracy, justice is 
non-negotiable.

______


[7.]

The Indian Express, September 23, 2003

Best way to tackle terror is to build temple: Sangh's new Ayodhya line
Singhal, Togadia jam in new Ram temple cassette
Pradeep Kaushal

New Delhi, September 22: What was so far off the 
record is now on tape and a folder set to be 
distributed across the country: the Sangh Parivar 
has linked the fight against terror with the 
construction of the Ram temple.

It has said that the only way to fight terrorism 
is to build a temple in Ayodhya. For, that would 
be a tribute to Ram who annihilated ''Aatankvadi 
Ravan,'' (Ravan, the terrorist).

This forms the key theme of the VHP's current 
temple campaign-openly supported by both the RSS 
and the BJP-as it builds up towards the Ayodhya 
march on October 15.

This theme is packaged in an audio cassette of 
songs and speeches, a 4-page leaflet, a sampark 
sutra (a thread to be tied to the wrist) and the 
soil of Ramjanmabhoomi called Ayodhya ki 
rajj-meant to adorn the foreheads of those who 
vow to join in.

VHP leaders say they have targeted 2 crore people 
to receive this package. Already, VHP campaigners 
have fanned out in villages and towns to enlist 
supporters for the march.

The cassette contains speeches of VHP working 
president Ashok Singhal and general secretary 
Pravin Togadia, a speech by Swami Satyamitranand 
Giri of Bharat Mata Mandir and a song written 
specifically for the campaign. In true spirit of 
the temple-terror blend, part-A of the cassette 
has Singhal's discourse on the temple, while 
Togadia holds forth on Islamic terrorism in 
part-B.

The speech by the Swami and the song are the same 
on both sides. The campaigners can play whichever 
side they wish to suit a particular locality and 
audience. Singhal is his familiar self: calling 
for mass mobilisation to build the temple; 
arguing against a court settlement.

Togadia, who has traditionally kept a low profile 
on the Ayodhya issue, minces few words on the 
tape: ''Do you want to be bombed with your child 
in your home while you are asleep? Do you want 
AK-47 bullets instead of prasad when you go to a 
temple? Do you want your bodies to reach 
hospitals when you go to a railway station to 
catch a train?''

He says thanks to ''Islamic jehad, Gandhari's 
Gandhar is Afghanistan of one-eyed Mullah Omar,'' 
and ''Hindus are as unsafe in India today as in 
Aurangzeb's rule.''

There is a call from Togadia to Hindus to fight 
''secularists and Tableegh activists.'' He gives 
them tips to identify Tableegh activists. ''They 
would be wearing their elder brother's kurtas, 
reaching up to their feet, and younger brothers' 
pyjamas.''

If Togadia is there for his hate speech, Giri has 
been fielded for a more sophisticated task: to 
take a swipe at BJP. He says: ''Those who had 
awakened the Hindus and has said that if they 
win, they will protect Sanskrit, impose a ban on 
cow-slaughter, build a Ram temple and remove the 
blots on Kashi and Mathura, seem to be drifting 
away from us.''

He goes on to say that ''some of our own revered 
great men are being influenced by power and 
individual gains.'' He calls for a mass 
mobilisation for the cause of the Ram temple and 
underlines that ''gau (cow), Ganga and gayatri 
(hymn) are our sources of inspiration.''

The chorus is just appropriate: Utho Jawano bela 
aayi mandir ke nirman ki, Awadhpuri ko chalna hai 
ab baazi hai samman ki.

The VHP has divided the country into 8,000 blocks 
for the campaign. It has made a special effort to 
rope in all shades of sadhus and ascetics in the 
drive. They plan to step up the campaign from 
October 6 when 85 groups of sadhus will cover 100 
villages each in districts adjacent to Ayodhya in 
a span of seven days.

______


[8.]

The Economic and Political Weekly, September 13, 2003
Commentary

Mapping the Enemy
Images of Islam

The images of Islam which inform the RSS and its 
carefully nurtured and directed hatred are not 
limited to the Hindu right alone but are found in 
popular and academic discourses both in India and 
the west. They bear little relation to the 
reality of Islam as lived by Muslims in India and 
around the world where faithful adherence to the 
tradition coexists with tolerance of other 
faiths. But this reality exists outside the 
Orientalist grids which inform our understanding 
of Islam.

Shubh Mathur

[Full text of the above article is available to 
all interested. Should your require a copy sen a 
request to <aiindex at mnet.fr>

______


[9.]

newindexpress, September 21, 2003

Blood on our hands

Nanditha Krishna

The Tamil Nadu Animal and Bird Sacrifices 
Prohibition Act of 1950 clearly prohibits 
sacrifice in temples, as do similar laws in many 
other states. The State Government wants to 
enforce the prohibition - and rightly so. The 
response has been shocking. One section of the 
media has opposed the government directive 
because they oppose Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. 
The opportunistic communists have come out in 
support of animal sacrifice - whatever happened 
to Marxist rationalism and atheism? Someone else 
has filed a PIL. A former minister, also a 
well-known lawyer, has objected. Do we really 
want to go back to our primitive past?

Blood sacrifice was common to all ancient 
cultures and religions. Ancient Hindus and Jews 
did it; Muslims continue to do it (during Id). 
There are scenes of human and animal sacrifice on 
Harappan seals. The first to speak out against 
bloody sacrifices were the rishis of the 
Upanishads. The chief message of the Buddha and 
Mahavira was to stop the killing of innocent 
animals. In time, the sacrifice of people and 
animals came to be regarded as primitive and 
cruel. Interestingly, scenes of animal sacrifice 
are rare in classical temple sculpture or 
painting.

Till the 20th century, human beings - especially 
the unwanted girl child - were regularly 
sacrificed in India. Education resulted in a 
public outcry against the practice and the 
government responded by banning human sacrifice, 
although we still hear of occasional lapses. But 
mere banning is never sufficient, and any change 
in attitude and action owes much to individuals 
such as the late Krishna Iyer in Tamil Nadu and 
Peela Ramakrishna in Andhra Pradesh. The former 
went around persuading people to "break" a 
pumpkin instead of killing an animal or bird. The 
latter took the police to the remotest villages 
to stop sacrifices. Such was the commitment of 
these men.

Animal sacrifice is particularly brutal. 
Buffaloes, goat and roosters are queued up as in 
a slaughterhouse, crying as they watch the others 
die and await their turn. Blood flows everywhere. 
Sometimes the worshippers anoint themselves with 
it; most times, they drink it even as it flows 
out. After the sacrifice, the priest may garland 
himself with the entrails. After beheading the 
buffalo, the chopped-off legs may be placed in 
its mouth, the fat spread over its eyes. The 
worst form of sacrifice is live impalement. It is 
altogether too gory. Is this what the Gods want?

Blood sacrifice was regarded as magic, a tool to 
propitiate or please a god, to fulfil a vow and 
as a sacrament. The animal (and, formerly, 
person) could be a scapegoat for human sins or 
inexplicable natural phenomena, or a vehicle to 
carry away the collected demons or ills of an 
entire community. It seems very unfair that a 
little goat or a peaceful buffalo should be made 
responsible for events beyond their comprehension 
or control. Ancient peoples performed sacrifices 
to control negative forces, particularly disease, 
in the belief that any blood would satisfy the 
bloodthirsty spirit. The animal was sacrificed to 
"save" a human life. Today, medicine performs the 
task more efficiently.

Animal sacrifices continue in villages all over 
India. The beginning of the planting season and 
Navaratri are particularly bad periods, when 
large numbers of animals, particularly buffaloes, 
are killed to propitiate local goddesses and thus 
ensure fertility. In the Himalayan states and the 
East, animals are sold by weight to be sacrificed 
to Devi during Navaratri, to re-enact the killing 
of the buffalo-demon Mahisha. The confrontation 
between the Goddess and the buffalo goes back to 
a totemic period when the worshippers of the 
former defeated the worshippers of the latter. 
Unfortunately the memory of that confrontation 
lives on in the brutality of buffalo sacrifice.

There is a distinct gender bias in sacrifice. The 
male god - generally an aspect of Shiva or Vishnu 
- is regarded as benign and peaceful, an austere 
yogi or a benevolent provider. The female - a 
form of Shakti - is blood-thirsty, violent and 
cruel. She may be Kali, with sharp, protruding 
canine teeth, or Mari, the smallpox goddess, or 
anyone else. Every village in South and Eastern 
India, has bloodthirsty village goddesses who 
reinforce the myth of the wicked witch, always a 
woman. The former is controlled by blood, the 
latter by society.

Women are potentially evil, according to this 
belief, and must be kept under control. They are 
drinkers of blood and consumers of human and 
animal flesh, and any insufficiency in their 
propitiation will, it is believed, invite their 
wrath and inflame their cruel natures. The Sapta 
Matrikas (seven mothers/sisters/virgins), the 
various forms of Kali and Mari and all village 
goddesses have a longing for blood and a 
reputation for cruelty. Their images are ugly and 
frightening, both in appearance and behaviour.

What an awful image of women, which is ingrained 
in the Indian psyche! Surely the mother who 
procreates and nurtures deserves a better 
reputation? While the temples to the male Gods 
are beautiful, majestic buildings that inspire 
awe and serenity, Devi temples are small, dark 
and dingy, situated outside the city in a sacred 
grove that is the haunt of dead spirits. Thus 
supporting animal sacrifice is supporting both 
gender inequity and perpetuating myths about the 
evil that is woman. Male spirits who demand 
sacrifice are generally the Goddess' lieutenants, 
who have developed a taste for blood. This image 
was created to justify the suppression of women.

Another little-known aspect is economic. Animal 
sacrifices are promoted by moneylenders, who 
freely give loans for the occasion and thus get 
illiterate villagers into their clutches. The 
wielders of the knife are often butchers who 
officiate as priests and charge for their 
services. The cost of a buffalo runs into 
thousands, a goat, sheep or rooster into 
hundreds. Add the cost of the feast and the 
poojari's fees, and the result is a hole in the 
pocket. There is a mafia that benefits from the 
conduct of animal sacrifices, which keeps the 
lower strata in permanent bondage. This becomes a 
vicious cycle. The animal sacrifices purport to 
improve their situation. But they tie the 
votaries, who generally belong to the lowest 
classes and castes, in economic chains, where 
they remain forever. Obviously, the gods are not 
pleased.

Sacrifice means giving up something precious to 
oneself. Thus Abraham was asked by God to 
sacrifice his son, while Shunahshepas offered 
himself to be sacrificed. Buying and killing an 
innocent animal does not fit the bill. The 
sacrifice probably originated among totemic 
tribes who sacrificed the animal totem to acquire 
its strength or wisdom. Conquering tribes would 
sacrifice the animal totem of the defeated tribe 
to signify victory. In the choice of the buffalo 
to be killed, there is an obvious racial message: 
that the dark-coloured, slothful and ugly animal 
deserves to die.

Animal sacrifice is cruel, disgusting and 
primitive. Bloody sacrifices brutalise the 
viewer, confusing the distinction between right 
and wrong. If one man supports animal sacrifice, 
another will support human sacrifice, the killing 
of children and sati. How can any of these be 
permitted in a civilised society? All cultures 
and religions evolve, discarding ugly practices. 
Over the years, we have learned to identify and 
repudiate negative aspects of Hinduism, such as 
sati and the caste system. Animal sacrifice is 
another cruelty that must be rejected and 
discarded. It is surprising to hear educated 
people talk of "customary practice". Religion 
should be value-based and ennobling. Sacrifice is 
neither: It is cruel and disgusting. We need to 
rise above petty political differences to support 
the implementation of a good law.

The author can be contacted at nankrishna at vsnl.com

______


[10.]

"The City, Mental Health and Women"

A Discussion organised by Akshara, Womens' 
Resource Centre and PUKAR (Partners for Urban 
Knowledge, Action and Research).

Participants: Bhargavi Daavar-BapuTrust,Pune.	Aparna Sathe-Aarohi,Mumbai.

Date-	Saturday, 27th September 2003 Time-	2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Venue-	Akshara Womens' Resource Centre, 
	2nd Floor, Gokhale Road Municipal School, 
	Near Oriental Bank of Commerce, Gokhale 
Road,	Dadar (W), Mumbai 28	Phone-24309676

The talks and discussion will take place in Marathi and Hindi

There is an increasing visibility of issues 
related to psychology and mental health in the 
media and other fora, in Indian cities. This has 
somewhat alleviated the stigma that used to be 
associated with seeking help or counseling for 
psychological problems. However, even this is 
restricted to small pockets of awareness. Mental 
health largely continues to be neglected and is 
rarely recognized as an integral part of holistic 
health. A fact particularly true in relation to 
women, who are, in certain cultural contexts, 
often conditioned to hold their own well being in 
low esteem. Gender discrimination in various ways 
combined with the stresses of urban living allows 
for the emergence of particular kinds of mental 
health problems for women. However, apart from a 
few small areas of affluence these are largely 
un-noticed until they manifest themselves in 
visible symptoms.

This discussion addresses issues related to 
gender and mental health in the context of the 
city, exploring spaces for professional help, 
support groups and coping skills.

______


[11.]

In solidarity with the current campaign by the 
Delhi University Teachers in Defence of S. A. 
Geelani (See : the webpage 
<www.mnet.fr/aiindex/new/indefenceofJilani092003.html),

The Delhi University Forum for Democracy has convened a public meeting

                                                   THE TERROR OF POTA

At Room no.22, Arts Faculty, Delhi University 
campus, on 25 September at 2.00 P.M.

The speakers are:
ARUNDHATI ROY, GAUTAM NAVLAKHA, NANDITA HAKSAR, 
PRABHAT PATNAIK and UJWAL K. SINGH

A range of issues from the trial of Geelani, the 
use of POTA in Gujrat, to the nature of 
democracy, and use of terror in the current world 
order will be discussed.

A statement from PROF. NOAM CHOMSKY in support of 
the current campaign by Delhi University Teachers 
in Defence of S. A. R. Gilani will also be read 
out at the meeting.

Javed Malik
Svati Joshi
CONVENORS

_____


[12.]

The Telegraph (Kolkata) September 22 2003.

DURABLE DISORDER

Sanjib Baruah

In the absence of a sovereign authority, the 
people of the Northeast form ethnic militias to 
provide for their own security through self-help, 
argues Sanjib Baruah

Sanjib Baruah is senior fellow, Omeo Kumar Das 
Institute of Social Change and Development, 
Guwahati

In the Northeast, it might seem that any 
determined young man of one of the numerous 
ethnic groups of the region could proclaim the 
birth of a new militia, raise funds to buy 
weapons or procure them by aligning with another 
militia and quickly become an important political 
player. According to last yearís count by the 
Institute of Conflict Management, Manipur tops 
the list of militias with 35, Assam is second 
with 34 and Tripura has 30, Nagaland has 4 and 
Meghalaya checks in with 3 militias. While there 
are no militias in Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram 
on this list, these states are not free from 
militancy originating elsewhere.

[Full Text @ : www.telegraphindia.com/1030922/asp/opinion/story_2374744.asp  ]

o o o

[See Also the latest issue of:
India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch Compilation # 137
(24 September 2003)
URL: groups.yahoo.com/group/IPARMW/message/148 ]

_____


[13]

MORE ON THE INTERNET CENSORSHIP UNDERWAY IN 
INDIA: Access to ALL yahoo groups have been 
blocked to internet users in India. (SACW readers 
confirm that SACW and related list arcives are 
not currently accessible in India. All wishing to 
consult the archives on yahoo groups are invited 
to browse via www.anonymizer.com....

Newindpress, September 24, 2003
Yahoo refuses to remove anti-India content, site blocked
This is the first time a website has been blocked under Cert-IN since it came
into being in July this year. Representatives of Yahoo in India had been
http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEH20030923005101&Title=Top+Stories&rLink=0

o o o

Editorial, Hindustan Times, September 24, 2003
No net gain for Big Brother

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_387920,0012.htm

o o o

News Today, September 24, 2003
Yahoo Groups continue to be blocked
http://newstodaynet.com/23sep/ld1.htm

o o o

Rediff, September 24, 2003
Government bans Yahoo! group
http://www.rediff.com/netguide/2003/sep/23yahoo.htm

o o o

Business Line, India - 19 Sep 2003
Govt issues orders to ISPs - ` Block separatist outfit's e - ...
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2003/09/20/stories/2003092002890100.htm

o o o

Business Standard, India - 26 Aug 2003
IT and political parties - a clash of cultures
http://www.business-standard.com/ice/story.asp?Menu=8&story=21575

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

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
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Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit 
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South 
Asia Citizens Web (www.mnet.fr/aiindex).
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