SACW | 26 Sept. 2003
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Fri Sep 26 05:37:54 CDT 2003
South Asia Citizens Wire | 26 September, 2003
[This issue of the wire is dedicated to the
memory of Edward Said, a renowned public
intellectual who died on September 24, 2003; His
fine intellectual work, his passionate
contribution for the Palestinian people (while
challenging Anti-Semitism ), and his unrelenting
defence of a cosmopolitan secular culture
influenced many around the world. Its is too
difficult to list his vast contributions, but
among his recent works (highly very relevant in
these times of fanaticism) was a powerful
critique of the dangerous 'Clash of
Civilisations' thesis pushed by Samuel
Huntington. Many of south asia's scholars and non
scholars identified and collaborated with him.
The late Eqbal Ahmad was a close ally and friend
of Said, and many others from India, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka ... shared and admired his concerns. ]
[1] Edward Said: some URLs
[2] An Update and call for resistance to Internet Censorship in India
[3] Youth for Peace: Indian Ocean Performs for
Peace and Harmony (sept. 27, New Delhi)
[4] A Meeting to plan protest re on attack on
Habib Tanvir's Play (Sept. 27, New Delhi)
[5] Press Release: AIDWA Protests Mulayam Singh Yadavs Defence of Amarmani
[6] Book Review: Storylines: Conversations with
Women Writers, edited by Ammu Joseph, Vasanth
Kannabiran, Ritu Menon, Gouri Salvi, and Volga (
Barnita Bagchi)
[7] Muslims for Secular Democracy to meet in Bombay [October,1 -2, 2003]
[8] Nuremberg International Human Rights Award 2003
- Words of Thanks by I A Rehman at Award Ceremony
- [A news report on Teesta Seetalvad getting the
Award] 'Things must, and will, change' (Smita
Deshmukh)
[9] Fascist Dr. dares Medical Council of India on degree cancellation
[10] Online petition for submission to Indian's
National Human Rights Commission Attack on Indian
Human Right activist
[11] Supreme Court asks Gujarat police to "keep off" riot victim
[12] Correction: re SACW of 25 Sept., 2003
--------------
[1.]
The New York Times, February 18, 2001 | [BOOK REVIEW}
The End of Orthodoxy: For Edward Said, exile
means a critical distance from all cultural
identities.
By Martha C. Nussbaum
REFLECTIONS ON EXILE
And Other Essays.
By Edward W. Said.
617 pp. Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press
available at:
http://india.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=7955&group=webcast
o o o
Professor Edward Said: "Memory, Inequality and Power: Palestine and the
Universality of Human Rights"
Webcast of this recent lecture in Berkeley,
dated February 19, 2003 is available for all :
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/events/details.html?event_id=46
o o o
[See Also: http://www.edwardsaid.org/ ]
______
[2.]
South Asia Citizens Web
[26 September 2003]
INTERNET CENSORSHIP IN INDIA : Blocking of Yahoo groups in India
An Update and call for resistance.
The continuing blockage of groups.yahoo.com in
India has by now affected thousand of web sites
and users. The entire groups.yahoo.com domain
has remained inaccessible to the vast majority of
India based users for the last 5 days or so.
[see: reports & URLs below]
All this wont change till the silent majority of
users dont speak up. And silence is complicity.
A CALL TO RESIST
This is a flagrant case of violation of freedom
of expression. But the right wing govt. of the
day whcih swears by democracy, can keep the ban
going for some time; This is not the first time
the Indian government has tried to block web
sites, during the Kargil war of 1999, the web
site of the prominent Pakistan daily was blocked;
this was very vigorously fought by many in the
media in India and some activists abroad. In 1998
a law suit was filed by online activist Arun
Mehta to challenge other moves by the Indian
state to block some websites. [see: URL's below]
What we ought to and should do:
- As suggested in a previous posting individuals
or groups should actively consider filing a law
suit or several law suits if possible.
- Feel free to write letters to members of
India's parliament protesting the ban
- Write letters to editors to the Newspapers
- The ISPs are to blame too since they are
playing too rigidly by the rules, they should
overturn the ban in public interest. They should
be pressured to break the rules.
- Call the ISP's and threaten to Refuse to pay
the bills and write letter to them. In short make
noise.
- Contact human rights groups in India which have
been unable to get their act together and
pressure them to move.
- Write to International Human rights groups to take this up.
- All public spirited citizens in India with
Internet access are invited to openly violate /
or evade the ban daily by using proxy servers
that allow you to bypass the servers of your ISPs.
Here is how to beat the ban:
1.: http://anon.free.anonymizer.com/http://groups.yahoo.com
2.:
http://www.citizenlab.org/cgi-bin/nph-groups.cgi/001010A/http/groups.yahoo.com/
* at the request of SACW this second proxy has
been specially set up by Citizen Lab in
solidarity with users in India. Please publicise
the existence of this proxy to other users in
india.
To better investigate the current process of
blocking, Users are requested to report the
exact error message they receive and any
traceroute data. Send an e-mail to:
<aiindex at mnet.fr>
Organising further:
I also propose the formation of a campaign group
consisting of individuals moderating and managing
groups on the groups.yahoo.com domain to
challenge the India government, this ban lasts
any further.
Lets organise to beat the ban.
Harsh Kapoor
(South Asia Citizens Web)
E-mail: <aiindex at mnet.fr>
SELECTED ADDRESSES OF THE OFFICIALS AND BODIES TO WHOM PEOPLE
MAY WRITE TO PROTEST OR TO SEEK THEIR INTERVENTION
Arun Shourie
(Minister of Communications & Information Technology & Disinvestment)
Ist Floor,Electronics Niketan,
Lodhi Road, New Delhi
Email : ashourie at nic.in
Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad
(Minister of Information and Broadcasting)
E-Mail: ravis at sansad.nic.in
Phone: (91) 23384340, 23384782 Fax : (91) 23782118
Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In)
www.mit.gov.in/cert/
India's Department of Telecom
www.dotindia.com/
ddgir at sancharnet.in
The Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI)
www.ispai.com/
Yahoo! India Web Services Ltd;
Bombay office:
386, Veer Savarkar Marg
Opp. Siddhivinayak Temple
Mumbai 400025
Phone: +91-22-56622222
Fax: +91-22-56622244
Delhi Office:
Yahoo! India Web Services Ltd;
Ground Floor, First India Place,
Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road
Gurgaon [Haryana]- 122002
Phone: +91-0124-5061888/9 (from Delhi 95124-5061888/9)
Fax: +91-0124-2560057
solutions.yahoo.co.in/contact.html
[* India's Official Human rights watch dog]
National Human Rights Commission(NHRC)
nhrc.nic.in/contact.htm
------
RECENT NEWS REPORTS & Selected URLs:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/33049.html
The Register
India's Yahoo! Groups ban - update
By Andrew Orlowski
Posted: 25/09/2003 at 12:36 GMT
India's blanket ban of Yahoo! Groups continues.
It's not 100 per cent, but most of the largest
ISPs have complied, removing access for over 80
per cent of users.
The Government's Computer Emergency Response Team
- which normally releases security and virus
alerts - issued a block on all groups after
Yahoo! refused to remove messages in the
low-traffic 'kynhun' group. The group carried
postings by banned secessionist group the
Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council.
According to readers, these include In2Cable,
Bharti's two ISPs Mantra Online and TouchTel
India, consumer dialup provider Sify, Hathway and
Siticable both cable providers, Caltiger, DDSL
and BSNL. However a reader in Pondicherry says
that VSNL and Dishnet dialup are permitting
access; while one of VSNL's downstream providers
is maintaining the blanket block.
Siddharth Hegde writes in dismay:
"It is truly a shame that a country like India
blocks a website. What they do not know is that
within a year the most computer illiterate person
would have found a five-minute work around. There
is no point in try to block websites - people
will find work around.
"I am a net user and use three ISPs - one Cable
and two dial-ups. All three have blocked them. My
cable connection (Hathway, VSNL and Satyam).
Satyam would be the first one to pull off this as
earlier they had blocked all adult websites
without authorization from users." ®
o o o
CIOL, September 25, 2003
India bans Yahoo! Groups
http://www.ciol.com/content/news/2003/103092510.asp
o o o
The Hindu, Sep 25, 2003
Protest against blocking of Yahoogroups
By Our Special Correspondent
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM SEPT. 24. Protest is mounting
against the blocking of the Yahoogroups by the
Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the country
on a directive from the Union Ministry of
Communication and Information Technology.
http://www.hindu.com/2003/09/25/stories/2003092507820400.htm
o o o
Paktibune.com, September 25, 2003
A hostile step to preclude freedom of speech in India
Indian Govt. issued an order to ban yahoo group
carrying messages on Govt's unjust policies
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=39303
o o o
Mid Day, September 24, 2003
web.mid-day.com/news/city/2003/september/64623.htm
o o o
Economic Times, September 24, 2003
Is the government right in blocking all Yahoo groups?
economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=199990
o o o
Sify (Pioneer) September 24, 2003
'Govt has no right to block Yahoo group'
sify.com/news/pioneer/fullstory.php?id=13259504&vsv=71
o o o
Cnet Asia, Sept. 24, 2003
India blocks Yahoo web site
By Staff, CNETAsia
asia.cnet.com/newstech/industry/0,39001143,39152163,00.htm
o o o
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
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
www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_387920,0012.htm
o o o
News Today, September 24, 2003
Yahoo Groups continue to be blocked
newstodaynet.com/23sep/ld1.htm
BACKGROUND RESOURCES ON OTHER INSTANCES OF GOVT CENSORSHIP:
[1] guide.vsnl.net.in/tcpip/columns/censorship/cc04.html
Indian Government Ban of Net Access to Pakistani News Broken
July 5, 1999
URL: www.rediff.com/computer/1999/jul/05dawn.htm
The Economic and Political Weekly [Bombay, India] August 23, 2003
"Information Technology Act: Danger of Violation
of Civil Rights by Sruti Chaganti
[The full text of this article is available for
all interested. Should you require a copy dropa
note to <aiindex at mnet.fr>
______
[3.]
YOUTH FOR PEACE
Indian Ocean Performs for Peace and Harmony Sep
27, 2003 6.30pm Lal Chowk Open Air Theatre ,
Pragati Maidan [New Delhi, India]
( NOTE: In all posters/ advertisements the venue
is mentioned as Falaknuma Open Air Theatre. We
have changed it at last moment to Lal Chowk Open
Air Theatre, Pragati Maidan which is just 2
minutes walking distance from Falaknuma and has
more capacity and only a few stairs)
supported by HT City, Vani Prakashan, Radiocity 91FM, Insaf
Young people are disturbed by the violence around
them - violence one faces everyday on the
streets, at home, in college, in the state and in
the country. They are worried and want to make a
change. They are tired of being stamped
indifferent because they are concerned.
Youth for Peace is a platform to share such
concerns – a space without boundaries where each
one can voice their opinions and ideas without
fears.
Youth for Peace is envisaged as an ongoing
activity conceptualised, designed, executed by
and for the youth in the campuses and schools.
Youth For Peace is being launched under the
banner of Anhad* (without boundaries) in Delhi on
September 27, 2003.
And what is a better way than Music to spread the
message of Peace and Love. Music that transcends
boundaries - is Anhad - like the young minds.
Indian Ocean an internationally famed group of
fusion band is performing at the official launch
of Youth for Peace.
Known for their albums like Desert Rain and
Kandissa, Indian Ocean was formed in the 90’s by
Asheem, Amit, Rahul and Susmit. Their Music is
very much the Rock variety with a generous
measure of Indianness, which makes it Fusion –
Rock. The Guitar sound is omnipresent in their
music. They search out different Folk tunes and
sometimes not restrict it to India.
Indian Ocean's emphasis on performing live is a
rare and pleasing phenomena and we wish to bring
them live to the music and peace lovers of Delhi.
ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) was
formed in the first week of March 2003. ANHAD
means without limits. We envisage it as an
inclusive institution in which every one who
stands for democracy, secularism, justice and
peace can participate. ANHAD was conceived as an
organization, which would be absolutely action
oriented.
4, Windsor Place, New Delhi-110001
Tel- 23327367/ 23327366
yfpinfo at yahoo.co.in / anhadinfo at yahoo.co.in
______
[4.]
Sub : Meeting on 27th September, Saturday at 4.00 p.m,
[Meeting] @ ISI on attack on Habib Tanvir's Play
Dear Friend,
You may be aware that eminent theatre person, Habib
Tanvir has been under persistent attack by the Sangh
Parivar, over the performance of the Chhatisgarhi folk
play Jamadarin urf Ponga Pandit. Habib Tanvir and his
company of actors Naya Theatre have been threatened
and the performances disrupted in several cities of
M.P. Habib Saab has however taken a very strong and
principled position and not given in to the terror
tactics of the goons of the Sangh Parivar.
Jamadarin urf Ponga Pandit was originally staged by
the Chhatisgarhi folk artists of a local Naccha troup
in 1933. It has been since then performed by many
other troupes of that area. Habib Tanvir began doing
this folk play in 1962 with his repertory company Naya
Theatre. The play focusses on untouchability and makes
a sharp critique against casteism.
We appeal to you and all secular democratic
groups/individuals to come to a meeting on Saturday 27
Sepember'03 at 4 p.m. at the Indian Social Institute,
to discuss a course of action and plan a joint
protest.
With Best wishes
Prabir Purkayastha
______
[5.]
PRESS RELEASE Sept. 23, 2003
AIDWA PROTESTS MULAYAM SINGH YADAVS' DEFENCE OF AMARMANI
The AIDWA strongly protests against the highly
objectionable defence made by UP Chief Minister
Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav of Amarmani Tripathi
after his arrest in the Madhumita murder case.
His statement is all the more shocking because it
was he who had raised the demand for action when
Tripathi was a Minister in the Mayavati
Government. AIDWA is among the many women's
organizations that welcomed the collapse of the
BSP-BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh that had
become synonymous with corruption and during
which there had been an unprecedented increase in
violence against women. However the Chief
Minister's statement in favour of Tripathi
clearly indicates that women's security and
dignity is of little concern to his Government.
Indeed, the implications of the Chief Minister's
statement in a State where there are clear trends
of the criminalisation of politics are
frightening for women. It means that any
political leader can commit crimes against women
but as long as they ensure the Government's
stability they will find patronage and
protection. Shri Mulayam Singh's statement is an
insult to all women. Neither the State's interest
nor the nation's interest can ever be served if
it is at the cost of women's dignity and
security. Although the UP police have now little
to do with the case since it is being conducted
by the CBI, statements from a Chief Minister
openly supporting the accused certainly amount to
pressure on the law enforcement agencies as well
as on witnesses. It is quite possible that
encouraged by the CMs statement the accused and
his supporters will step up the pressure on
Madhumita's family and the witnesses to give up
the case. This will lead to a travesty of
justice. Whether Tripathi is guilty of murder or
not is something for the courts do decide. By
such an atrocious statement Mr. Mulayam Singh
will not strengthen goodwill for his Government
among women, because what it would appear that
his view of social justice excludes gender
justice.
Subhashini Ali Brinda Karat
(President) (General Secretary)
______
[6.]
From The Book Review, New Delhi, September 2003
Storylines: Conversations with Women Writers,
edited by Ammu Joseph, Vasanth Kannabiran, Ritu
Menon, Gouri Salvi, and Volga (New Delhi: Women's
WORLD India and Asmita Resource Centre for Women,
2003). Paperback, 312 pp, Rs 250.
Barnita Bagchi
Seventeen living Indian women writers
of great distinction, writing in ten languages,
of diverse ages and backgrounds, are captured in
extended conversation in this exciting volume.
The interviewers themselves are feminists,
activists, and writers who have contributed
greatly to the recording and recovery of women's
creativity and protests: they include Sonal
Shukla, the Gujarati writer, Ammu Joseph, the
journalist, Ritu Menon, the publisher, and
Vasanth Kannabiran, critic and poet.
Unsurprisingly, the book is a
treasure-trove. It grew out of a project on women
and censorship, undertaken by Women’s WORLD
(Organization for Rights, Literature, and
Development) and Asmita, a project which had also
yielded an earlier volume, The Guarded Tongue:
Women's Writing and Censorship in India, based on
the proceedings of the workshops and conferences
of the first phase of the project. That volume,
too, has an easily flowing format capturing the
exchanges and conversations between the
participants. In the volume under review, the
genre is one-to-one conversation between writer
and interviewer, and it works beautifully. The
questions are short, and are entry-points into
the writer’s universe, acting as triggers for
what are often reflective, richly modulated
remarks, rather than the set pattern of ‘one
question, one answer, and to the point, please’.
The book bears out Rukmini Bhaya Nair’s thesis,
which comes up in her interview, that there is
such a thing as a ‘genderlect’, more rich in
comparators, exalamatives, joint tellings, and
silences, ‘rich, subtle, and modulated’, which
has strong affinities with orality.
This is, of course, not to say that
the women writers in question acqiesce in their
status as a ‘muted group’, in socio-linguistic
parlance. Enumerated, even cursorily, their
public achievement in their refusal to keep their
lips sewn up, as Anamika puts it, is stunning.
How, for example, can one not be amazed at the
apparent good-humoured ease with which Nabaneeta
Dev Sen, internationally known scholar-critic,
poet, novelist, and short story writer, has
turned the orderly Bengali patriarchal family
edifice topsy-turvy? Through her highly popular,
acute, humorous travelogues, short stories, and
novellas, she brought her own women-only and
female-headed household into the living-rooms of
Bengalis (as she says, she used humour as a means
of distancing the personal), and in the process
created a universe in which women can ride off on
the back of a truck to the edge of Tibet on the
Macmahon line, recount wanderings in the Kumbha
Mela in modern idiom, or hold intensely cerebral
conversations about life and letters. On the one
hand a pioneering researcher into women’s
Ramayanas, she has in her creative avatar written
searing fiction using those motifs recreated in
annals of modern life (most notably in her
novella Bamabodhini). Yet as her conversation in
this volume conveys, she too has faced
censorship, even if it is most often the threat
or actuality of censure.
The desire to placate those whom we love, to not
offend them, to preserve familial respectability,
to avoid being spoken of as the unruly or the
improper woman—the ideology of respectability and
propriety comes up again and again as a potent
form of self-censorship for the writers. And each
of them knows that somewhere in their minds there
is a madwoman in the attic, (to use Sandra
Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s image of the mad Mrs
Rochester in Jane Eyre as a metaphor for women’s
writing), wanting to break free and set the house
on fire—even if that impulse is not allowed to
surface. If it does surface in reconfigured form,
then what may appear to the writer and us as
cerebral (‘boudhik’) writing, as Mridula Garg
says of her own work, may seem to the prurient to
be thrill-seeking, improper writing, as happened
with Garg’s novel Chittacobra, leading to a
vicious campaign by the magazine Sarika, and
Garg’s subsequent arrest on grounds of obscene
writing.
To remain respectable, then, is an
onerous and fragile project for the Indian woman
writer. Reading this volume, one gets a mini
compendium of the various respectable or
acceptable avenues available in the
post-Independence Indian public sphere to
creative women. Teaching is easily the major
avenue that they have used to carve out an
identity. Dev Sen taught for most of her working
life, and Dhiruruben Patel taught for many years.
Vasireddy Seeta Devi, the Teugu writer, coming
from an intensely conservative family, trained
herself in Hindi and emerged from her village to
become a highly respected head of a Hindi
Teachers’ Training College. This did not prevent
her from writing political novels even as a
government servant, to the extent that one was
banned during the Naxalite period. Sarup Dhruv
gives fascinating accounts of teaching Jesuits
about Indian culture and language, about working
with the Indian Space Research Organization to
develop pedagogic material and plays, and her
current activities as civil society activist
working in difficult conditions for communal
harmony in Gujarat.
Jameela Nishat, a powerful poet in
Urdu from Hyderabad, who tries to preserve in her
work the feminised Dakkani idiolect, finds in
anguish that while she is straitjacketed and
discriminated against as a ‘Muslim writer’ by
Hindu playmates she had grown up with, within her
own community her writings on communal riots are
acceptable, but critiques of anti-women practices
are not. Choosing to write more free-flowing
verse in the stylized ambience of Urdu poetry,
Jameela finds that English-language collaborators
and translators choose not to use the poetry on
social issues she writes. Meanwhile, Sara
Aboobacker, a Kannada writer of Malayalam origin,
readily admits that, in a lateblooming career
begun in her forties, she has chosen to speak
with courage and obduracy about the oppression
and discrimination that more lower-class women
face, but she cannot yet address issues taxing
middle-class Indian Muslim women such as herself.
Ilampirai, a rural Tamil poet who composes
virtually all her poems as songs, had her right
wrist broken by her ex-husband when she dared to
write about her marriage after the divorce. Bama,
Dalit writer and autobiographer in Tamil, found
that when her work was first published, she faced
hostility in her village for washing dirty linen
in public. Volga, a revolutionary in politics,
contended with opposition and criticism from left
orthodoxy for daring to form a separate space for
feminists and women writers.
The recognition, recovery, retrieval,
and recording of women’s creativity is itself a
creative enterprise, as much as it a cerebral
one. Reading this collection, one feels the
crying need of a plethora of translations from
the regional languages. The fact that, despite
poverty of resources and disinterest from the
global publishing monopolies, such translation
and recording projects are thriving, thanks to a
growing number of independent publishers,
feminist resource centers, and
translator-activists, allows a cautious shoot of
hope to blossom—that Indian women may after all
be successful in staking a claim to a world
where, with nurture from creative feminist
activist-scholars, women’s rights, literature,
and development may grow hardily and obdurately.
______
[7.]
Muslims for Secular Democracy to meet in Bombay [October,1 -2, 2003]
(see report in the Telegraph, September, 26, 2003)
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030926/asp/nation/story_2403169.asp
______
[8.]
Nuremberg International Human Rights Award Award Ceremony
September 14, 2003 in Nuremberg Opera House
Words of Thanks by Ibn Abdur Rehman (I A Rehman)
I do not have words to adequately express my
gratitude to the great city of Nuremberg,
especially to the Lord Mayor, Dr Hesselmann and
his colleagues at its office of human rights and
the jury of its highly valued International Award
for Peace and Human Rights for honouring me with
the 2003 Award. This award is in fact a
recognition of the selfless struggle for human
rights by a large number of people in Pakistan. I
have had the privilege of working with many of
them at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
and in India-Pakistan or South Asian forums for
peace. And I stand here as one of them, no better
than any other.
I am also overwhelmed by the generosity of the
people of Nuremberg. The popular enthusiasm
evident at this grand peace table is more than a
measure of your hospitality; it speaks volumes
for the investment you have made in the service
of humankind. Nuremberg has had many claims as
the center of historic developments but its
present image as a champion of peace and human
rights is undoubtedly the most enviable and most
enduring. Each and every resident of this city
should be proud of this marvelous accomplishment.
Many present here might have listened to
stirring addresses full of wisdom and rich in
commitment from my predecessors at this table. I
will not try to compete with them. Coming as I do
from a country which is mentioned more in
dispatches on terrorism and conflict than in
reports on enterprise for peace and where human
rights are mentioned mostly in accounts of their
denial to ordinary citizens I will only mention
some of the concerns we in Pakistan have.
We the inheritors of the Indus Valley
Civilisation are an ancient people, with a record
of many achievements in distant past.
Unfortunately, the management of our relatively
young state does not figure on the credit chart.
Throughout the 56 years since Pakistan came into
being the people have been engaged in a struggle,
highlighted by a mass upheaval every 10 years or
so, to realize their aspirations for a democratic
dispensation. This struggle is going on even
today.
The ideal of democratic self-determination is of
fundamental importance to our people because
without it Pakistan cannot speak in a voice that
is at the same time authentic and legitimate. The
absence of genuinely democratic institutions
undermines Pakistan's capacity to respect the
call of peace and human rights both.Allow me to
say that neither the Pakistani people's need of
democracy nor their commitment to it has been
fully appreciated by the developed world, which
has tended to endorse dictators for narrow
considerations. One sometimes hears that in view
of some deficiencies in their make-up or their
lack of requisites of a democratic order, the
people of Pakistan, and for that matter similarly
placed societies, should expect no better than
rule by military cabals and their self-serving
surrogates. Such suggestions are not justified by
the history of many communities' progress towards
self-realisation. Besides, they reinforce the
division of humankind into those who are
qualified to enjoy democracy, peace and human
rights and those who may fend themselves as best
as they can off authoritarianism, bloody
conflicts and abuse of basic rights. The very
concept of universality of basic human
entitlements is undermined. I should therefore
stress the need for viewing the Pakistani
people's striving for democracy as a matter of
international concern.
In a country where authoritarianism has been the
rule and short-lived democratic facades an
exception, references to human rights appear
somewhat unrealistic. In terms of human rights
indicators our problems are legion. Women do not
enjoy their basic rights, even those sanctioned
by law, and violence against them is rampant. We
have child labour, though this problem is now
attracting more attention than before. There is
discrimination against national and religious
minorities. The basic rights of the working
people are being curtailed. Civil and political
rights are under strain and a large number of
people suffer denial of liberty and torture every
year. The factors contributing to this situation
include,besides absence of democracy, gaps and
deficiencies in the national charter of
fundamental rights, decline in the judiciary's
independence, non-adherence to international
human rights instruments and indifference to
treaties that have been ratified, religious
orientation of the state, feudalism, and the
state's tendency to ignore the civil society and
its undisguised hostility towards political
parties and NGOs. On the positive side, human
rights standards can no longer be publicly
disowned by the government, the people have
learnt to articulate their grievances, and quite
a few organizations are engaged in advocacy.
Peace is on the agenda of many of them. They see
little prospect of an early breakthrough but
they are sustained by their faith and their
optimism.
Many of you perhaps share the concern felt in
several parts of the world about the nexus
between international terrorism and the so-called
fundamentalists in Pakistan. True, there are
extremists and militants in our country, perhaps
more than our due share of the world population
of zealots, but they do not account for the
entire society, nor even a majority. They pose a
greater threat to their own society than the
outside world. While the existence and doings of
these cancerous elements are fully covered by the
international media, the outside world gets to
know little of the other strands that make up the
Pakistan mainstream. There are parties and groups
that view democracy as a secular ideal.There are
women organizations whose fight for basic human
dignity and equity the successive regimes have
failed to suppress. The lawyers have been
battling for rule of law and independence of the
judiciary. Trade unions are resisting
encroachments on their traditionally recognized
rights. Peasant groups are up in arms for their
right to land. There are people, however small
their number, that have denounced nuclear tests,
refused to prefer guns to bread, and protested
against terrorist attacks on the Indian people.
These groups have the capacity to marginalize the
fundamentalists who owe their visibility and
share of public space to their interdependence
with authoritarian regimes, civil as well as
military. All they ask for is a global
environment inspired by universal and fair-minded
respect for human values of civilized existence.
For, the dynamics of Pakistan society, or in
other developing countries, cannot remain
uninfluenced by trends on the global scene. The
vast population of the countries that emerged
from colonial domination after the Second World
War has not received a fair deal from the
advanced nations. Much of the uneasiness in these
countries is due to the dissipation of
initiatives such as the Brandt Commission, the
Stockholm Social Charter and the North-South
dialogues. The have-nots of the world are
obviously uncomfortable with a status quo that
condemns them to growing impoverishment and
denial of social progress. They are seriously
scared of new international regimes that treat
their concerns with indifference, if not contempt.
The gap between the world's under-privileged and
the powerful rich has widened over the past
couple of years not only in material terms but
also in respect of perceptions of peace and
justice. A great deal of the effort to create a
world of peace and harmony made since the 1940s
is threatened with reversal. If powerful
countries can get away with their unilateral
decisions on war and peace and bypass the United
Nations, the incitement to less mature regimes to
keep fighting among themselves is obvious. If the
killing of innocent civilians can be justified as
collateral damage , if prisoners of war can be
denied their rights under the Geneva Conventions,
if the right to rebel against injustice can be
suppressed, then the whole world is being
diverted away from the ideals of peace and human
rights.
I have taken the liberty of making these
submissions because the deprived sections of
humankind expect forward-looking states, such as
today's Germany, to defend the universality of
the right to peace and human rights and pull
their weight in addressing the causes that lead
people in poor countries to suicidal despair.
They have to ensure that the new
socio-political-economic world order offers
equity and justice to all peoples of various hues
and dispositions. That is the only way to secure
peace and human rights.
It is, however, illogical and unfair to put the
entire responsibility for keeping the world on a
sane course on advanced and rich countries. South
Asia's problems, for instance, lie in the main in
Pakistani and Indian pathological obsession with
politics of hostility. These two neighbours have
caused each other huge losses in wars and during
long years of preparations for war. Their
fondness for nuclear weapons has created a
spectre of horrendous devastation. The pursuit of
such mutually destructive policies has
contributed to the rise of monsters of hate,
caused deviations from democracy and fuelled
communal strife.The cost is invariably paid by
the poor and the vulnerable. Fortunately
enlightened sections of civil society in both
states are out in the field and braving the risks
of struggling for peace and amity. Hope rests
with them and they deserve a salute.
For that reason I thank Nuremberg for bringing me
together with a distinguished Indian, my very
dear and adorable friend Teesta Setalvad, who has
faced hazards and challenges that fortune has
spared me. I look upon this partnership as
symbolic of the common destiny of the people of
India and Pakistan, a destiny within their reach
if they are released of bondage to forces that
thrive on ignorance and prejudice and pave the
way to power with decapitated bodies of the
innocent. I hope neither Teesta Setalvad nor I
will forget the responsibility this coming
together places on us.
And I bow to your generosity and kindness. Thank you.
o o o
The Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com:80/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=183885
'Things must, and will, change'
SMITA DESHMUKH
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2003 03:13:55 AM ]
"We are faced in India with the threat of hatred
and division impinging on every aspect of public
life. Caste has been an unfortunate historic
factor that has denied dignity and access, apart
from perpetrating brutal violence on 25 per cent
of Indians in the past. Yet, we must carry on,
firm in our belief that things must and will
change."
Human rights activist Teesta Setalvad's
International Prize for Human Rights of Nuernberg
comes at a time when the Supreme Court has
severely indicted the Gujarat government for
mishandling riots cases, on petitions filed by
National Human Rights Commission and Zahira
Sheikh, key witness in the Best Bakery case.
Says Teesta, "Now that the SC has intervened
seriously, we hope that it will see how the
Gujarat government has failed to inspire any
confidence in survivors of the violence. A
retrial in all the cases outside of Gujarat is
the only way out."
Setalvad's NGO â¤" Citizens for Justice and Peace
(CJP) â¤" has filed affidavits and other material
to show how victims are being terrorised and not
protected. CJP is also helping in the Gulberg
massacre case. "In this case, the Gujarat
government has appointed Chetan Shah to be a
public prosecutor, a man charged with burning
alive nine people in 1985. How can survivors of
carnages have faith in this government?" asks
Teesta.
The activist also charged that the Narendra Modi
government has failed to provide security to all
witnesses. "We are confident that the SC will
take note of it," she says.
Teesta hopes that with the checks imposed by the
SC, Gujarat as well as the Centre will be more
straightforward. Keeping a close watch on
developments back home, Teesta agrees that a
proposal of having eminent lawyers as prosecutors
for riot cases should be fleshed out. She,
however, reserves her opinion on the Opposition
demand for President's rule in Gujarat. "We are
hopeful of the SC intervening effectively. A
vibrant alternative to what is happening in
Gujarat to rekindle hope is what we hope to get."
Can Gujarat pave the way for reopening other riot
cases? "There are any number of possibilities for
reopening the 1984 Sikh massacre trials,
Bhagalpur killing cases, Meerur Malliana cases.
It is overdue and welcome. We have a sorry record
of dealing with mass crimes. It's about time the
judiciary and legal system looks hard at our
failures to prosecute such criminals," says
Teesta.
Teesta admits that the battle for human rights is
sometimes lonely and hard. "But the words and
deeds of a small but strong group of friends and
family keep us going."
Asked what prompted her to bring Zahira to
Mumbai, she says, "The fact that there was no
support for her, which made her turn hostile, is
a sorry comment on us. We need to stay with the
survivors and their struggle."
______
[9.]
Indian Express, 25 Septeember 2003
Dr. Togadia dares MCI on degree cancellation
MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 24: VHP leader PravinTogadia presented a rare
sight today, putting aside the Sangh's thinking cap to flaunt his
credentials as a cancer specialist. Angered by remarks that his
provocative speeches are a violation of the medical code of conduct,
Togadia dared the Medical Council of India (MCI) to cancel his
registration. At a press conference, Toga-dia raged against the
doctors who have lodged a complaint with the MCI, quoting from his
speeches in Gujarat. "Some mad people are demanding that I be
deregistered. I became a cancer specialist due to my intelligence and
not due to their meherbaani (favour). These people do not realise
that any professional degree cannot be withdrawn without professional
misconduct," he fumed. The 100-odd doctors, who comprise groups in
Mumbai and other cities, have specifically quoted Togadia's speeches
after the Godhra incident. Scoffing at the demand, To-gadia said:
'"Karketo dikhai" (Let's see how they do it.) On a relatively mellow
note, he said he would return to farming for if the unexpected
happened "Kisan ka beta hoon, waapas khetimejaoonga."
_____
[10.]
[Online petition for submission to Indian's
National Human Rights Commission Attack on Indian
Human Right activist ]
To: NHRC
Framing of false Charges on Dr.Lenin Ashoka
Fellow & Defender of Human Rights, Threat to life
and false detention, for demanding Right to
Education for marginalized Dalit Children.
Full text of the sign on petition is at:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/pvchr/petition.html
_____
[11.]
The Hindu, September 26, 2003
SC asks Gujarat police to "keep off" riot victim
New Delhi, Sept. 25. (PTI): The Supreme Court
today asked Gujarat police to "keep off" the
petitioner and riot victim Bilkis Yakub Rasool,
who was raped during the Gujarat riots, till the
court decided on her plea for transfer of the
sexual assault case from State police to the CBI.
When counsel for the petitioner pointed out that
the CID Crime Branch of the State police was
harassing her, a Bench comprising Justice S
Rajendra Babu and AR Lakshmanan said, "it would
be appropriate for the State police to keep off
her till the court decides her plea for transfer
of the case to CBI".
It was alleged by Bilkis Rasool that though the
medical reports categorically stated that she had
been sexually assaulted, the State police, on
technical plea, had closed the case.
After she filed a petition before the court
seeking transfer of the case to CBI, the State
Government had entrusted the probe into the case
to CID-CB, the Gujarat counsel informed the court.
The petitioner's advocate alleged that she was
called by police officials for questioning at
2200 hours on September 16, on the plea that she
had be taken to Godhra for identification of
bodies.
The petitioner had refused to accompany the
officers saying no body would be available at the
place of the incident as it took place 18 months
back.
____
[12.]
[Correction: Please note that in yesterdays SACW
dispatch the following article was errroneously
described as having appeared in The Hindu]
The Hindustan Times, September 25, 2003
FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED
Sitaram Yechury
Full Text at: www.hindustantimes.com/news/printedition/250903/detPLA01.shtml
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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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