SACW | 30 Dec. 2003
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Mon Dec 29 19:30:32 CST 2003
South Asia Citizens Wire | 30 December, 2003
via: www.sacw.net
[1] Pakistan: Who could it be? (edit, The Daily Times)
[2] Pakistan: Assassination Bids Linked to Musharraf's 'Betrayal' (M B Naqvi)
[3] India Pakistan Border: Love, hate, display (Abdul Basit Haqqani)
[4] India's Historians plan 'parallel textbooks'
[5] India: Party-pooper Moral Police in Bombay
[6] A report on Indian women's Liberation Day in Bombay (Kunda Pramilani)
[7] India: Why does an RSS leader get a state
funeral in Secular India (Mukul Dube)
[8] India: Communalism and political issues [Part 1 and 2] (K S Parthasarathy)
[9] India: Watch The Bakery (Editorial on Gujarat ... The Telegraph)
[10] India: 'Souharda Vedike' stages march
against the Fascists move to takeover Sufi shrine
[11] India: Fascists wooing 'tribals'
[12] India: December 2003 Issue of 'Communalism Combat' is now on line
--------------
[1]
The Daily Times
December 29, 2003
EDITORIAL: Who could it be?
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid says the
suicide-bombers who nearly killed General Pervez
Musharraf in Rawalpindi were a mix of outsider
and insider jihadis. The police have gone and
arrested some youths in Azad Kashmir after the
'separated' face of one suicide bomber was
identified as belonging to one Jameel who was
apparently said to have been involved with a
number of jihadi organisations in the past and
had trained in Afghanistan. Chechens too have
been named as possible suspects and there is also
a reference in the press to jihadis on the Indian
side of Kashmir. Some analysts infer from the
first attack on General Musharraf in Karachi that
Jaish-e-Mohammad and Al Jihad groups could be
involved. (We don't know how Al Jihad has cropped
up in the debate unless Harkat-e-Jihad-e-Islami
is actually meant, which was the only Pakistani
organisation taken over by the Taliban and given
headquarters in Kandahar. Surprisingly, this
outfit remains unbanned.)
Some Urdu papers have coyly fingered Mushtaq
Zargar who was released along with Umar Sheikh
and Masood Azhar from an Indian jail in exchange
for the hijacked Air India aircraft in
Afghanistan in1999. That is taken to suggest that
the attack was planned somewhere in Poonch,
implying that someone could be trying to distract
attention by linking the latest attacks to
General Musharraf's 'betrayal' of the Kashmir
cause. But Zargar for a time was running his Al
Umar outfit from Azad Kashmir with members drawn
from among the Pakistani population. It was Osama
bin Laden that got three of his favourite boys
released from India through the 1999 hijack.
Recently a Lahore journalist was rapped by the
agencies after he simply reported that the former
Taliban foreign minister Mullah Mutawakkil had
attested that the hijackers, while negotiating
the hijack with the Indians, were taking
instructions from Islamabad. The hijackers and
Masood Azhar had belonged to Harkatul Mujahideen
which was earlier known as Harkatul Ansar. When
the two leaders of Harkatul Mujahideen, Fazlur
Rehman Khaleel and Masood Azhar, quarrelled in
2000, Osama bin Laden facilitated the creation of
Jaish-e-Muhammad with the help of Mufti Shamzai
of the Karachi Banuri Mosque, including the
despatch of a dozen new double-cabin trucks for
Fazlur Rehman Khaleel.
Jaish was promptly settled in a new training
camp. It emerged as the most feisty fighting arm
of jihad in Kashmir. It got out of the hand of
its 'handlers' when it attacked the assembly
building in Srinagar. But Jaish and Harkat are
all traced back to Sipah Sahaba whose leader
Maulana Azam Tariq, before he was killed, was
supporting the Jamali government in the National
Assembly after being 'mistakenly' elected in the
2002 elections.
Let us take one example from the incidents of
terrorism that happened in Karachi in 2002 to see
how the entire gambit of Deobandi jihad is
interlinked and was run by the Taliban/Osama bin
Laden combine.
FBI and Pakistani intelligence agencies arrested
an Egyptian Arab Hisham al-Wahid from Saudi
Arabia and brought him to Pakistan. He guided the
agencies to Gaggar Phatak in Karachi where from
behind the police station in a garage three
activists of Jaish-e-Muhammad and two of Lashkar
Jhangvi were arrested. These activists belonged
to Sargodha and had been trained in the Akora
Khattak seminary of Maulana Samiul Haq. These
activists then guided the police to Gulshan
Hadeed in Steel Town where in a bungalow the
police arrested one Iraqi and two Yemeni Arabs.
The police also searched Mujahid Colony Nazimabad
and arrested Rafeequl Islam of Sipah Sahaba. It
recovered cassettes showing Mullah Umar and Osama
bin Laden and books on jihad. Rafeeq was
described by the press as a 'companion of Osama
bin Laden'.
Harkat-e-Jihad-e-Islami owed allegiance to the
Afghan leader Nabi Muhammadi who died in exile in
Islamabad. It developed that the majority of the
Taliban were from Nabi Muhammadi's jihadi outfit
which our agencies did not think too much of
during the Afghan war against the Soviets. After
the rise of the Taliban, however, Harkat became
Kandahar's favourite outfit. Its Pakistani
fighters were sent out to do battle in Central
Asia and Chechnya. (Hence the Chechnyan contact
which culminated in 2002 in the memorial in Kohat
dedicated to the first Chechen martyrs of Al
Qaeda being erected by the local PML-N MNA). The
leader of Jihad-e-Islami, Qari Saifullah Akhtar,
fled to Pakistan after the rout of the Taliban in
2001 and was never apprehended. He and Masood
Azhar and Fazlur Rehman Khaleel were nearly never
kept under surveillance even after the UN
resolutions in 2001. In 2002, over one hundred
jihadi outfits in Azad Kashmir quickly wound up
and the big ones merged after changing their
names.
The jihad has come back to haunt Pakistan. And it
haunts the chief of an army that earlier helped
create the jihad for its proxy wars. General
Musharraf is doing the right thing by Pakistan by
putting an end to the jihadi options. But he must
realise that the jihadis are all here. Those who
organised the jihad are all here too, inside and
outside the army. And the MMA with whom he is
preparing to cohabit has won its seats in
parliament on the pledge of returning Pakistan to
the system of the Taliban. There is no doubt that
a majority of the Pakistanis support General
Musharraf's campaign to rid Pakistan of terrorism
but the minority who block his way and want to
kill him are financially powerful and weaponised
to the teeth. He must hold firm to the policy he
is pursuing but he must also know that the plots
against him could not have been made without some
"inside" help and that some of the state
organisations that are now deputed to protect him
have the past reflex of sympathising with his
would-be killers. *
_____
[2]
Inter Press Service, December 28, 2003
PAKISTAN:
Assassination Bids Linked to Musharraf's 'Betrayal'
By M B Naqvi
The second unsuccessful attempt on the life of
Pakistan's embattled President Gen Pervez
Musharraf this week, only 11 days after the
earlier attempt, underscores the point that
someone out there is indeed determined to kill
him.
KARACHI, Pakistan, Dec 28 (IPS) - The second
unsuccessful attempt on the life of Pakistan's
embattled President Gen Pervez Musharraf this
week, only 11 days after the earlier attempt,
underscores the point that someone out there is
indeed determined to kill him.
The assassination bids took place at an area
where intelligence hounds are crawling in every
inhabited nook and corner. Pakistan has God knows
how many intelligence services, some big and some
small.
So it is strange that they could not query the
explosives carrying vehicles, standing idly at
two opposite petrol pumps close to the bridge
that was the site of the mid-December attempt on
life of Musharraf, who is also army chief.
The incident took place in the Rawalpindi
cantonment area, not too far from Corps
Headquarters. General Headquarters itself could
not be more than two kilometers or so away, not
to mention military's police checkpost.
The assassination attempts on Dec. 14 and 25
occurred at a time when Pakistan is an important
member of the coalition against the 'war against
terror' led by the U.S. government. Thus, the
powers in this war can only take the attacks
seriously.
The U.S. government would seriously want to
investigate who exactly it is who wants to murder
Musharraf. Pakistan's officials are stressing the
al-Qaeda network as the main suspect.
Let us look this main suspect closely: According
to this theory, the would-be killers are Islamic
fanatics who had no problem acquiring the
vehicles, the explosives, and full briefing of
what to do, when and how.
Clues emerge from the Dec. 14 assassination
attempt. There, the would-be killers expertly
tied explosives to the underside of a bridge over
which the President, with his security detail,
was to pass.
The bridge is situated on the main thoroughfare
and its vicinity is well populated by military
families. It is not more than a few hundred
metres from an Army Corps headquarters and there
is a military police checkpost on either side.
The placing of the explosives must have taken at
least an hour. The military and civilian sleuths
could only be supposed to be thick on the ground,
as the President passes over the bridge several
times a day. How could the unknown assailants do
their work undetected?
Another circumstance that puzzles is the
knowledge by the intending killers of the exact
time, down to minutes and seconds, that Musharraf
was to pass over the bridge.
That presupposed help from someone along the
route who could calculate the exact time the
presidential motorcade would reach that bridge.
In the end, the assassins' timer was late in
exploding by less than a minute - the delay was
caused by a jamming device fit to the President's
car.
This made several Pakistanis to suspect help from
inside. The government indignantly denies such
suspicious, though it continues to hammer away at
the theme that al-Qaeda -- and foreigners at that
- is after Musharraf's blood for his supposed
betrayal of the Taliban and now the cause of
Kashmir, the subject of a decades-long dispute
with India.
That motivation can scarcely be doubted, though
the exact ideological identity of the assassins
is still being debated. Al-Qaeda's footprints are
everywhere in Pakistan, and Pakistani authorities
have arrested the maximum number of its leaders.
It is true that Pakistan is a magnet for all
Islamic militants from everywhere. For one reason
or the other, Pakistan's name props up every time
a terrorist is arrested anywhere.
He has either visited Pakistan or was trained
there or has transited through it. Its religious
parties' leadership, particularly of Jamaate
Islami (JI), has high prestige among Arab
intellectuals that are attracted by militant
Islam.
But it was Jamiate Ulma-i-Islam (JUI), in its two
main factions, that was the progenitor of Taliban
and is extraordinary powerful in the two
Pakistani provinces of Baluchistan and North West
Frontier Province, which adjoin Afghanistan.
Thanks to the popularity of ideas that militant
Islam is supposed to inspire, both Taliban and
al-Qaeda have a lot of popularity, support and
protection there. The question is whether the
major religious parties in Pakistan share any
part of blame.
Few Pakistanis accuse either JI or JUI of any
terrorist action, though each has many front
organisations that are virtually militias,
well-armed and quite well-funded. Also, these
parties, which constitute the bulk of the
religious parties' alliance called Muttahida
Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), have just made a
constitutional deal with Musharraf.
They have a share in the power in the governments
of the two western provinces that the MMA
controls. But the leadership gives no indication
of being inclined to violence. On the contrary,
it projects an image of moderation, reason and
anxiety to strengthen democratic institutions in
the country.
Thus, the question is - are the would-be killers
related to MMA? No one has raised a finger of
accusation at MMA leaders. Musharraf himself is
quite at home with them and has just cut a key
political deal over a row over constitutional
amendments.
MMA leaders do exercise an indeterminate amount
of influence over Musharraf: they support his
regime's key policies from outside while sitting
on opposition benches in Parliament.
It is an astute ploy: they have their eyes on the
next election that cannot be too far away and
they do not want to be seen on the side of a
dictator, yet enjoy power in two provinces. Their
workers can meantime go on spreading the message
of establishing what they believe are Islam's
injunctions.
At the same time, they have disassociated
themselves with their earlier progeny, the
Taliban and the Kashmir militants. But the latter
groups are out there armed and well-funded,
though perhaps operating autonomously with the
help of some sections of the security apparatus
itself. Without this link with the security
apparatus, the Kashmir militancy cannot be
sustained in the way it has so far been.
The question remains to be answered about the
link between these autonomous militant groups
with the MMA. In formality they may be different,
but ideologically they are not.
Yet Musharraf's position has to be understood.
The government is committed to a pro-U.S. policy,
masterminded and run by Musharraf. Indirectly,
the military is also committed to the causes for
which Musharraf has become persona non grata with
militant Islamic elements.
How are the militant groups tolerated, then, and
how can Musharraf cut political deals with
godfathers of Taliban, if not al-Qaeda?
Circumstances suggest that militant groups, the
soulmates of al-Qaeda, have the support of
powerful elements who use them when needed. They
are focusing on just one person, not all the
government or its policies about religious
extremists.
Ideology may not be the sole motivation in the
assassination attempts, but the personal hurt
felt in Musharraf's betrayal of the Taliban and
the Kashmir 'mujahideen'. Otherwise, the rest of
the religious lobby in Pakistan is happy enough
to cooperate in the political sphere with
Musharraf. (END)
_____
[3]
The Daily Times
December 29, 2003
Love, hate, display
by Abdul Basit Haqqani
Pakistan and India are going through one of their
'dovey' periods. Though not quite 'lovey', it is
relatively free of overt hostility. How long this
will last no one can tell. Not only are there
strong forces on both sides that are opposed to
normalcy, but the problems that underlie mutual
bellicosity are not being addressed, nor are
likely to be solved soon.
Besides these shoals in the turbulent waters of
the subcontinent, dangerous squalls can be
created by ill-considered pronouncements,
statements meant to serve domestic political
interests and just plain bad luck. There is,
therefore, the very real danger of the relative
thaw being reversed and another ice age advancing
upon the subcontinent.
One obstacle that has to be surmounted is the
widespread impression that India has never
reconciled itself to the existence of Pakistan.
It is true that the ideological position of
several groups closely allied to the ruling BJP,
tends to give the impression of impatience to
herd the 'strayed sheep' back to the political
fold of a single state. The question for us,
however, is how much attention we should pay to
this mental aberration. That depends, in no small
measure, on our attitude towards ourselves. This
will determine our attitude towards our neighbour.
I migrated from India at an age so tender that my
recollections are no more than a mosaic of
scenes, some more vividly recalled than others.
And of those imprinted on the mind, most are the
kind that one would rather forget. They relate to
the trek across East Punjab with the ever-present
threat, or rumour, of violent death. Since coming
of age I have lived in a number of countries. But
I have never visited India. Nor, unlike so many
of my friends, draped in green and white and
striking a bellicose pose towards our
inconvenient neighbour, have I been anxious to do
so.
India, to me, is a foreign country and not even a
shared history and commonalities of culture hold
any allure for me (particularly the products of a
Bombay turned Mumbai, if these can be dignified
by the name of culture). Nor am I a visitor of
graves or museums built to house the effects of
great men. Even the sight of Ghalib or Mir's
writing implements will not tempt me just as I
have never been tempted to visit Shakespeare's
birthplace or the house where Keats and Shelley
lived in Rome.
But that, you might say, is a personal preference
for the here and now rather than the there and
once-upon-a-time. The point I am making is that I
identify myself completely with my homeland,
regardless of the place I migrated from in 1947.
But, unlike super-patriots, I do not think it
necessary to prove it to anyone. This sense of
identity with Pakistan, I suspect, allows me to
take a much more relaxed attitude towards India.
If I desire peace with the neighbour, it is
because its absence constitutes an immediate
threat to myself and all those I love. Besides, I
also hanker for what it will bring - the peace
dividend, to use the currently fashionable term.
In war, neither combatant admits to having
started it: the other party is always accused of
aggression. When it is a matter of peace, both
claim to have taken the initiative. This effort
to score points over the other is, in a sense,
the continuation of bellicosity by other means.
Actually, it is not important who took the first
steps towards a normal relationship as long as
the goal is reached.
The benefits will flow equally to both sides -
the one that took the initiative and the one that
reciprocated. Unfortunately this is not how
statesmen behave. But the insistence that they
alone are responsible for the move towards sanity
and their antagonist has been forced to respond
because of their superior wisdom or diplomatic
skill threatens to unravel the entire process. If
an improvement in relations is genuinely sought,
it would be advisable for both sides to speak,
and to tread, softly.
And speaking of treading, is it not time to end
that farcical show that is put on every day at
the Wagah border? I have seen it only on
television but I can never help being struck by
the similarity between the display of beasts as
they confront each other while staking out their
territories or competing for females. Comic as
this behaviour is, they have no choice in the
matter. Their posturing is genetically
determined, not politically ordained, and usually
does not lead to bloodshed. But to have border
guards glare, red-faced and apoplectic, at each
other, stamp their feet like epileptic beasts,
bang the gate shut with such force that it
springs open again, and strut like roosters with
erect combs, is to behave like circus clowns.
More, it is to negate the objective of the peace
moves for which the leaders hope to gain credit.
Would it not be better to discontinue these
ridiculous antics? If the gates have to be
symbolically closed, let it be done gently and
sensibly and let the minatory stares be hooded.
Let peace building have a chance in gestures as
well as in substance.
_____
[4]
The Hindu
Dec 30, 2003
Historians plan 'parallel textbooks'
By Our Staff Correspondent
MYSORE DEC. 29. The Indian History Congress (IHC)
is opposed to "interference" in the writing of
history textbooks and has prepared a list of
"mistakes and distortions".
"We, as professional historians, are planning to
bring out parallel textbooks of history to the
ones brought out by the National Council of
Educational Research and Training," said Shireen
Moosvi of the Aligarh Muslim University.
Ms. Moosvi, former secretary of the IHC, said
over 1,200 delegates were attending the 64th
session of the IHC here, a record since the first
meet in Allahabad in 1935. This was an expression
of unity by historians against "interference" in
history writing by those who were not historians.
It was also a matter of concern that textbooks
were being written by "persons who had never
taught history".
According to the organisers, a record number of
over 670 papers would be presented at the
three-day meet. The ratio between the number of
participants and paper presentations was also
high. In all, more than 2,500 professional
historians have registered.The IHC secretary,
Ramakrishna Chatterjee of the Netaji Institute
for Asian Studies, Kolkata, said history was
under attack from persons who lacked a
professional touch, and added that history should
be left to historians.The executive committee is
expected to take up important issues such as
autonomy of institutions, the abrupt removal of
the Chairman of the Indian Council for Historical
Research, interference in textbook writing,
preserving heritage monuments and archaeological
sites.
_____
[5]
The Times of India
Sena to play party-pooper
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2003 01:49:15 AM ]
PUNE: Shiv Sena activists in the city have
threatened to disrupt New Year's eve
entertainment parties and programmes, if they
extend beyond the 10 pm -deadline. But police
commissioner A.N. Roy told TNN that nobody will
be allowed to take law into their hands.
"As it is, the government allows all restaurants
and hotels to function beyond midnight even on
normal days" he said. The police will act
strictly against violators of the law, he warned.
The Sena's city unit president and
vice-president, Rambhau Parikh and Raghunath
Kuchik, respectively, submitted a memorandum to
Roy on Monday, urging the police to maintain a
"strict vigil' on parties at hotels, bars,
restaurants and resorts.
Kuchik said that the Sena has requested the
police to ensure that deadlines are observed. The
memorandum also warned that Sena activists will
enforce the 10 pm-deadline.
_____
[6]
Manusmriti Dahan Day celebrated as
Indian women's Liberation Day
on 25th December 2003
at Chaitya Bhoomi , Mumbai- A Report
Kunda. Pramilani
At half past four in the evening on 25th of
December, 2003, more than hundred activists
representing several Dalit, Bahujan and feminist
organisations assembled in front of the memorial
of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar at Chaityabhoomi, Dadar
and set aflame dummy copies of the Manusmriti,
Bhagwad Gita and Ramayana, condemning these texts
and thus celebrated the ' Bharatiya Stree Mukti
Din' This surprise gathering focused the fact
that there is a need to protest against violent
Hindu Revivalist force manifested in Politics,
Media, Art and Cultural forms of expressions.
Two activists Ms. Urmila Pawar & Ms Kunda P N of
Dalit-Bahujan Mahila Vichar Manch (DBMVM)
voluntarily gave the call for this symbolic
action. There was tension because Sena Bhavan
was just few yards away and Shivaji Park Police
station was also at visible distance. The act
of burning any religious book being against
Freedom of Expression as argued by our Gandhian
friend, we had decided not to ask Police and
Municipal permission for this programme.
However we had decided to gather as 'Flash Mob'
and disperse very quickly by registering our
protest against Brahmnical order. We have
consciously used the term that "we are burning
symbols of Oppressive Brahmnical Ideology. " The
presense of more than hundred activists
belonging to twenty organisations boosted our
courage because in spite of knowing all above
mentioned possiblities everybody felt the need
to protest against present day Hindu Revivalist
trend.
Urmila Pawar, member of the DBMVM and Aakaar
Konkan Dalit Mahila Sanghatana reminded the
gathering of the historical burning of the
Manusmriti by Dr. Ambedkar and his associates on
25th December 1927 to condemn the oppression of
women and shudras. She explained the significance
of the event and informed the gathering about the
celebration of this day as Bharatiya Mahila Mukti
Din over the last five years by several women's
organisations in Maharashtra. Another activist of
the DBMVM, Kunda Pramilani while speaking on
the occasion argued that like the Manusmriti, the
Bhagwad Gita and the Ramayana also support in a
cunning manner the Varna order and slavery of
women and these texts too must be condemned. The
Bhagwad Geeta clearly states that violence and
war are needed for protection of Dharma while
the Ramayana consciously propagates the false
myth of Sita being taken back into Mother
Earth. It is possible, infact to conclude, she
continued, that unable to bear her anger against
the unjust order, Sita may have committed
suicide.
Vandana Gangurde, a firebrand activist of the
Tejaswini Mahila Mandal of the Ramabai Ambedkar
Nagar spoke about how just the burning of the
Manusmriti was not enough that there is a need
alongwith this to rid minds of the deep rooted
blind faith . This is a big task and all women
will have to come forth and provide social
leadership for this task of bringing to an end
all inequalities in society. Lata. P. M. of
NACDOR and Streekathi underlined the need
and significance of symbolic programmes such as
that of the burning of the Manusmriti for
challenging the communal and fundamentalist
forces and bringing in social reform in
contemporary Indian society. Advocate Vidya
Triratne of the Bahujan Samaj Party argued that
the Constitution drafted by Dr. Ambedkar was an
appropriate alternative to the Manusmriti and
the need of the day was true socialist and
democratic politics. Pratibha Shinde of the
Punarvasan Sangharsh Samiti in her speech
narrated a humorous incident from the life of
Babasaheb, wherein his wife Ramabai once asked
him to cure a patient since he had the title of
a doctor. Dr. Ambedkar told Ramabai that he was
not a doctor of patients but a doctor of books.
Further, he explained to Ramabai that he worked
towards bringing to end serious diseases like
caste that had grasped texts like the Manusmriti.
Pratibha Shinde argued that infact today the
disease is not limited to texts and books but
that the diseases of casteism and communalism had
taken hold of the entire society and that the
gathering should vow to cure society of these
diseases.
Several male activists attended the programme and
one of them Mr. Mulanivasi Mala an activist of
the Bahujan Mukti Mahasangh argued that it was
essential to condemn the Manuvaadi ideology
that Dr. Ambedkar had talked about and also the
new international Brahmanism that comes to us in
the form of the IMF. Aruna Bhurte, an
experienced activist of the women's movement said
that Dr. Ambedkar had by burning the Manusmriti
set into motion a struggle for human
emancipation. This movement will gain momentum
when combined with the programme for women's
emancipation. Sandhya Gokhale of the FAOW argued
that this programme should not be viewed as a
programme against one particular religion but
since all religions subordinate women, the
burning of the Manusmriti represents the burning
of all non-egalitarian thought. People of all
castes and religions must therefore join in this
programme. Kusumtai Gangurde , senior activist
of the Republican Mahila Aghadi said that by
burning the Manusmriti, Babasaheb had initiated
the emancipation of women and that it was a
welcome sign that several people were gathering
in different places to carry forward this
message. Usha Ambhore of the Buddhist
Association of India said that a lot of Indian
literature reflects Manuvaad and must also be
condemned. Vandana Shinde of the Andh Shraddha
Nirmulan Samiti said that alongwith the
Manusmriti , blind faith must be set aflame or
else the undue importance of 'Bapu- Bua and
Bangali Babas’ ( fake religious men) will only
increase in society.
The organisations present were 1.Dalit-Bahujan
Mahila Vichar Manch. 2. Tejaswini Mahila Mandal
3. Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar mahila Mandal 4.
Panchashil Mahila Mandal 5. Akaar Konkan Dalit
Mahila Sanghathan. 6. Streekathi . 7. NACDOR .
8. Bahujan Samaj Party Mumbai. 9. RPI Mahila
AGhadi. 10. Bahujan Mukti Mahasangh 11.
Punarwasan Sangharsha Samitee 12. Nirbhaya Bano
Andolan. 13. Forum Against Opression of Women.
14. Women Centre. 15. Phule Shahu Ambedkar Vichar
Manch 16. Andhasharadha Nirmulan Samitee Thane.
17. Raada Sanghatan. 18. Budhist Association of
India. 19. Dr. Babasahesb Rashtriya Smarak
Samitee. 20 Filmmaker Anand Patwardhan &
Simantini Dhuru.
This report was immediately faxed to all
mainstream news papers in Maharashtra but no
one wanted to give the space or coverage to this
news . All the mainstream news papers are full
of euphoria ! They want to cover news about PM’s
birthday celebrations at various places,
anouncements of all Carnivals, Youth festivals
and New year parties and not the news about
protest
Kunda . Pramilani, is film maker, writer and
member of the Dalit- Bahujan Mahila Vicharmaanch.
______
[7]
[ LETTER TO NEWSPAPERS]
D-504 Purvasha
Mayur Vihar 1
Delhi 110091
29 December 2003
Dear Editor,
While the Sangh Parivar has every right to observe the death of Kushabhau
Thakre in any way it pleases, Madhya Pradesh has no business to arrange
a state funeral and declare two days of mourning for a person who was neither
an elected representative there nor a constitutional functionary. This is
misuse of public resources for private purposes. The waste will become far
greater because the state's economy will come to a halt for a day.
Although on paper we are a democracy and a republic, under the Sangh Parivar
dispensation the trappings of monarchy have returned. Narendra Modi's second
swearing-in was a regal affair attended by both the Prime Minister and the
Deputy Prime Minister (who will, naturally, also witness the cremation of
the late Mr. Thakre); and the recent swearings-in of Chhattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh and Rajasthan were also modelled after the circus of ancient Rome
and the late Shri Hitler's rally at Nuremberg.
Yours truly,
Mukul Dube
o o o
[See Related report:
Thakre cremated with full state honours
http://www.thehindu.com/2003/12/30/stories/2003123003961100.htm ]
______
[8]
Deccan Herald
December 29, 2003
Edit Page
Communalism and political issues [Part 1]
By K S Parthasarathy
At a recent state-level convention of the World
Social Forum in Hubli, it was generally felt
communalists have an agenda to try a Gujarat in
Karnataka. As part of such a programme, they have
laid siege to a syncretic shrine in Baba Budan
Giri in Chikmagalur district, which is a symbol
of communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims.
The commualists have also threatened to convert
it into an Ayodhya of southern India. Thus here,
as, elsewhere, communal forces are getting a
fresh lease of life and appear to be determined
to escalate it into a destructive mode.
It is perceived that the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) stands for polarisation of Hindus and
Muslims. It has an aggressive agenda for
capturing political power through communal
propaganda. It is also observed that in the
subcontinent there are some major communal
outfits of fundamentalist and communal sections
of Muslims. They are to some extent fed by the
socio-political backwardness of the Muslim
community. Together they are responsible for the
competitive communal tension created in the
subcontinent as a whole. In between these
extremes, you find many shades of communalism
practised by many political parties for getting
whatever political advantage possible.
Hindu vs Muslim
This Hindu versus Muslim communal problem is a
variety unique to us and is a contribution of the
erstwhile imperialists in as much as they played
one community against the other and ultimately
succeeded in politically dividing the
subcontinent. Perhaps the Congress Party was
wrong in joining the Khilafat movement of the
1930s with an opportunistic calculation to get
Muslim support for its movement. In actuality,
for the first time, it resulted in organising the
Muslims on communal lines for political purposes
and autonomously on an issue which was not
national. This tendency of the Muslims to
function as a single entity across the borders of
the nations, even though it is on religious
issues, leads some people to question their
patriotic allegiance to the nation where they are
born.
Further, communalism as prevalent today does not
have any roots in the earlier Islamic periods of
the history of the Indian subcontinent. The seeds
of communalism were effectively sown only during
the anti-imperialist freedom struggle. We also
believe that together these fundamentalist
communal organisations represent only a very
small minority of the population. But this does
not rule out the organisation of a considerable
section of the population in the subcontinent on
communal lines just as a means of articulating
the political dialogue on other issues rather
than on communal issues as such. In other words,
once these political issues, which are as much a
ploy for finding space in the power structure,
are resolved, this variety of communalism could
also be resolved and it is essential to solve
these political issues urgently. The most
important political problem between India and
Pakistan is Kashmir and once this is resolved,
much of the base for other communal articulations
will be eroded. In fact the Kashmir issue has
given an unnatural extended lease to the communal
problem of the subcontinent.
Rich concept
It may be observed at this stage, in passing,
that it is not necessary to discuss secularism
per se in order to explain communalism.
Secularism is a positive rich concept and does
not simply mean anti-communal, though it is no
doubt so. Communalism could be present even in a
theocratic state or a nation of people belonging
to a single religion. Secularism and communalism
as a variant of fundamentalism are basically
inimical to each other. Hence it is that
communalism is anti- democratic as, by
definition, democracy militates against
fundamentalism. In other words, existence of
communalism as a problem in a society is
indicative that the working of democracy is
defective in that society.
The communalism we have talked of is primarily
inter-religious in nature. There are
intra-religious communal problems as well. For
instance the Shia and Sunni sects within Islam
fight at the drop of a hat. In this case it is
pure fundamentalism at work. There are caste
conflicts within the Hindu community which often
bristle with overtones of communalism. Perhaps
this could be resolved through socio- economic
and political measures.
It is the inter-religious conflict between the
Hindus and the Muslims that we are concerned
with. While Hinduism has for the first time in a
millennium come to control power throughout its
area of presence and influence, and it is
struggling to grapple with its own internal
divisive discussions such as the problem of caste
and the out-castes, it feels often threatened
from well organized monolithic religions such as
Islam and Christianity and by a resurgent
Buddhism which was once thought to have been
vanquished. Reforming and modernising itself by
abolition of the caste system and abandoning
various social practices that militate against
modernism are some of the solutions open to
Hinduism and it seems it is being seriously
addressed by some sections, though not by the
Sangh Parivar.
o o o
Deccan Herald
December 30, 2003
Need to unite all minorities [Part 2]
By K S Parthasarathy
The BJP seems impatient with what it feels as an
attack through such developments like religious
conversions striking at its very base. It also
seems to arrogate to itself the role to protect
Hinduism against whatever it thinks as
challenges. While the political wing of the Sangh
Parivar may think of it as a convenient ploy, its
propagandist bandwagons seem to believe in them
seriously and that is the dangerous aspect
causing concern.
It is often said that the Muslims in the
subcontinent harp on their earlier historic
dominant status as a ruling class. This is not
entirely correct as they lost power long ago and
it was not to the Hindus but to the British. Most
Muslims fought for freedom alongside Hindus
against the British. May be a brooding on the
possibility to retrieve the imperial glory of
earlier Muslim rule might have affected the
separatists who wanted Pakistan. They were also
indoctrinated rightly or wrongly that in a nation
where Hindus are in majority they would suffer.
Why did they think so? When they were dominant
before, did they ill-treat Hindus? Do they suffer
from any guilt? This appears to be the claim of
the BJP. However tenuous this position is, the
fear was exploited by the British.
The Muslim Punjabi ill-treated other Muslims
inside the new nation of Pakistan, both residents
and migrants. Partition was not an invitation to
the large-scale migration that ensued. It left a
battered and wounded psyche. Today, long after
the partition, there is no more justification to
continue this argument. In fact the number of
Muslims remaining inside India is still larger
than the population of Pakistan. Newer generation
of people who were not witness to the ghastly
experiences of partition have come of age and
they are capable of thinking anew. They are
capable of casting away this historical baggage
of hatred towards each other.
Political status
Yet another reason cited for communal tension is
the alleged minority psychosis supposed to be
prevailing among Muslims as a community inside
free India. This again is not completely correct.
When Muslims were rulers, they were then also in
minority but still they did not suffer from this
complex as they were in power then. In other
words today in India they do not enjoy sufficient
political power in keeping with the size of their
population. It is not the number but political
status and share in power that makes the
difference.
There are any number of reasons for the state of
political powerlessness and it is not necessarily
due to the unwillingness of the so called
majority community to accommodate. Those who seek
a share in power must also strive to qualify
themselves, train themselves and agitate
democratically for that share. The Dalits are
doing this and are growing in strength. The
Constitutional provisions accommodate this desire
for political space. The Constitution does not
make any discrimination against the Muslims. It
is true that the Muslim community that remained
within our country suffered many socio-political
disabilities as a result of the circumstances of
partition. Their material basis and social spirit
drained out in the process. This inhibits them
from getting into the mainstream political
struggle on equal terms. So some affirmative
action for some time by the State in favour of
them may be necessary. However very rarely does
the State moves on its own. The Muslim community
needs to agitate democratically on these issues.
Universal feature
Terrorism is often an outgrowth of political
turmoil that cries for justice and it is
buttressed by many opportunistic developments
which also include religious fundamentalism.
Also, there are many just political and economic
struggles going on in the world and they are
stigmatised as terrorism by entrenched power.
It is not easy to offer a definition for the word
communalism. It is not an ism in the sense of
other familiar isms such as idealism, materialism
or Marxism. If anything, it is one of the ways in
which fundamentalism of any sort expresses
itself. And it is to be noted that fundamentalism
is a category in philosophic discussions. It is
not a special feature of Hinduism or Islam. It
exists inside all organised religions and
ideologies.
A word about minority and majority concepts
appears relevant here. Unlike monolithic
religions, Hinduism does not have a Hindu society
which is well knit into a whole. It is split into
pieces primarily on caste-outcaste basis. It has
a majority of people who militate against an
entrenched minority, they themselves however
having been divided into many smaller groups.
Thus in this subcontinent, various suppressed
minorities, along with the Muslims and
Christians, together constitute a majority. Hence
the solution to minority complex is not taking
refuge under communalism and other deviant
ideologies but for all of them to gather together.
______
[9]
The Telegraph
December 29, 2003
WATCH THE BAKERY
In the recent history of Mr Narendra Modi's
winning ways, the Best Bakery case is turning out
to be an astonishing chapter. As his state and
nation march on to higher and greater things, the
Gujarat pogrom is becoming part of a forgettable
and disposable past. The experiment has yielded
its fruits - electorally and in the larger cause
of the war against terror. It has also created an
icon of victory, embodied in the figure of the
chief minister and party member, wooing investors
in his own state and campaigning for his party
elsewhere, in cooperation with his colleagues. Mr
Modi is now an indispensable part of the new and
shining India, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party
towards unprecedented economic stability. But the
Best Bakery case keeps coming up. Across the
network of civic and political institutions in
Gujarat, which invariably manages to muffle and
distort the course of justice, falls the shadow
of the Supreme Court. A local fast-track court
had acquitted the Best Bakery accused, followed
by the apex court's admonition. This forced the
state government to go in for a token appeal,
rejected by the Gujarat high court on the last
day of its winter session. When the court's
reasons for confirming the acquittal are
disclosed "later", there will, of course, be
opportunities for further appeals. But the case
has now been safely led into the labyrinth of
endless referrals and deferrals - and India can
carry on shining meanwhile.
Here, then, is an obvious disjunction between the
fast-track courts and the high court in Gujarat
on the one hand and the Supreme Court on the
other, leading to what is, in effect, the failure
of the entire criminal justice system. But a
deeper set of rifts can also be seen between the
state government, the judiciary and the
institutions of civil society (rights-based NGOs
and the national human rights commission). The
NHRC has filed for the retrial and transfer of
several riots cases, while Citizens for Justice
and Peace has been trying to protect the key
witnesses. But it has been the singular
achievement of the machinery of state to make
their fight for justice look either like
uncalled-for judicial activism or like a
ridiculous and outmoded form of left-liberal
political correctness. Apart from the Supreme
Court's persistence in the matter, protesting
against what has happened in Gujarat, and
continues to happen there, has begun to look
almost like a hippy movement, conducted in
isolated venues by assorted rights activists or
inconvenient celebrities (usually women, and
usually from the minority communities). This is
not only a perversion of justice, but also a
mockery of the Indian polity and civil society -
of the Constitution and the judiciary, and of the
lives of individuals and communities.
______
[10]
The Hindu
Dec 29, 2003
Souharda Vedike stages march
By Our Staff Correspondent
CHIKAMAGALUR DEC. 28. In what is seen as a
"response" to the Shobha Yatra conducted by the
Sangh Parivar in Chikmagalur on December 7 on the
occasion of Datta Jayanti, the Bababudangiri
Souharda Vedike (BSV) took out a procession here
today. Intellectuals, farmers, labourers, and
activists of political parties and swamijis of
three maths participated.
According to an estimate, nearly 10,000
volunteers of political, cultural, and labour
organisations, and members of organisations of
Dalits, farmers, women, and students participated
in
The rally commenced from Basavanahalli Kere field
on the outskirts of the Chikmagalur Santhe
Maidan, and concluded at the District Grounds.
Sri Channamallaveerabhadra Swamiji of the
Needumamidi Muth and Sri Murugharajendra
Shivamurthy Swamiji of Chitradurga Math led the
procession, which was inaugurated by the
revolutionary singer, Gaddar.
______
[11]
The Telegraph
December 29, 2003
Sangh sings BJP tune to woo tribals
DEBABRATA MOHANTY
Bhubaneswar, Dec. 28: Bijlee, sadak, pani was the
cry in 2003. But in 2004, the mantra will be jal,
jungle and zameen to woo tribals here.
The old chant that won the BJP Chhattisgarh is
now being remodelled by the Sangh parivar to win
tribals in backward areas in Orissa with an eye
on the nearing general elections.
The Sangh top brass is unsure if the earlier
slogan will pull tribals in the state. Therefore,
the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, a Sangh outfit, is
slowly working on issues concerning tribals here,
keen to cash in on the feel-good factor.
The step also seems to have Atal Bihari Vajpayee's blessings.
"I was specifically asked by the Prime Minister
to look into different problems such jal, jungle
and zameen being faced by tribals. The tribals
are the real owners of forests, land and water.
The Vajpayee government is determined to make a
20-year vision plan for the abandoned community
of the country," chairman of the National
Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes, Dilip Singh Bhuria, told a gathering of
about 15,000 tribals here on Friday.
The meeting was organised by the Ashram as part
of its golden jubilee celebrations but turned
into a BJP campaign platform.
"Never before have tribals in the country got so
much of attention as under Vajpayee," Bhuria
said, projecting Vajpayee as the messiah of
tribals.
He also reminded the gathering that Lord Ram was
the god of tribals. "We are passing through a
governance similar to Ram rajya."
Union tribal minister and state BJP leader Jual
Oram also joined in singing paeans to the Prime
Minister. He thanked Vajpayee "for creating a new
ministry to address problems being faced by the
tribal community".
He said his ministry had sanctioned funds for
making 200-odd films which would highlight the
"rich tribal culture".
"The tribals have sacrificed a lot for the
progress of the nation. Though they are the real
inhabitants in forest areas, they were evicted
from forestlands for establishing factories and
projects," the minister said.
The Union minister is being tipped to become the
Orissa BJP chief with an eye on the Lok Sabha
elections.
About 22 per cent of Orissa's population is tribal.
If there was praise for Ram rajya, there was also
a veiled attack on Christian missionaries and
tribals who had converted to Christianity.
Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram president Jagadev Ram Oram
demanded that tribals who converted to
Christianity should not be provided reservations.
According to him, after embracing a different
religion they no longer remained tribals.
He said the Ashram had decided to organise trips
for tribals to places like Puri. Tribal
communities from Orissa and its neighbouring
states would be taken to Puri to offer prayers to
Lord Jagannath.
The organisation would reach out to at least 1
lakh tribal families to sensitise them on their
rich culture.
An 80-member team would visit 120 big cities to
make the plan successful, he said.
_____
[12.]
December 2003 Issue of 'Communalism Combat' is now on line
www.sabrang.com
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
The complete SACW archive is available at:
bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/
South Asia Counter Information Project a sister
initiative, provides a partial back -up and
archive for SACW: snipurl.com/sacip
See also associated site: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org
DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
--
More information about the Sacw
mailing list