SACW | 01 Jan 2004
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Wed Dec 31 22:21:01 CST 2003
South Asia Citizens Wire | 01 January, 2004
via: www.sacw.net
[1] In Memorium: Salma Sobhan A human being
extraordinaire (Habibul Haque Khondker)
+ a letter Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy wrote from
jail to his niece Salma Sobhan (8 May 1962)
[2] Letter to India's Prime Minister re Keeping
the Wagha-Attari border open, especially for the
youth to cross on foot
[3] Sachin Chaudhuri - A centenary tribute to a bhadralok editor (Ashok Mitra)
[4] Kashmir: Letter from the JKLF Chairperson to
India's Prime Minister and to Pakistan's President
[5] India: 'Psychological amnesia' assailed
[6] Pakistan: Now it's mannequins (Omar R. Quraishi)
[7] Urvashi Butalia, who set up Kali for Women,
India's first feminist publishing house 20 years
ago, explains why 2003 has been a year of
dramatic change (BBC)
[8] Contents December issue of Himal
--------------
[1]
The Daily Star, January 1, 2004
January 01, 2004
In memoriam
Salma Sobhan
A human being extraordinaire
Habibul Haque Khondker
I often wondered what kept many of my compatriots
from knowing some of the true heroes in their own
midst. Is it because we are less enthusiastic
about knowing the achievements of a fellow
citizen than finding about their scandals? Upon
reflection, I realised that this could also say
something about the personality in question. Some
people are reluctant to bask in the glory of
success or media attention, they carry on with
the jobs they have committed themselves to. Salma
Sobhan, who passed away shortly after the
midnight between December 29 and 30, 2003 was
such a person. I often wished to see her as an
ambassador of Bangladesh for the simple reason
that apart from her enormous talents and brain,
she was a rare person whose both parents were
ambassadors. I cannot think of another such
example. Salma Sobhan's father was Mr. Ikramullah
who was the first foreign secretary of the newly
independent Pakistan and subsequently represented
Pakistan as an ambassador. Salma Sobhan's mother
Begum Shaista Ikramullah too was Pakistan's
ambassador to Morocco. Her father-in-law too was
once Pakistan's ambassador. It would be an
understatement to say that Salma Sobhan was
unobtrusive. She never told me that she was the
recipient of the famous Human Rights award from
the Lawyers' Committee in USA in 2001. It was Ms.
Sigourney Weaver who presented the award to her
in person. I had to find it out the hard way -- a
search through Internet -- as I was preparing a
brief resume on her. Salma Sobhan's maternal
uncle was Hussain Shahid Suhrawardy and her
paternal uncle was Justice Hedayetullah who later
became the Vice President of the Republic of
India. Her younger sister is married to Hasan Bin
Talal, the uncle of Jordan's Monarch.
Such illustrious family background fades in
comparison with her personality, which is full of
wit and wisdom. A social activist driven by a
conscience and a commitment to the causes of the
disadvantaged, she was one of the founders (along
with Dr Hameeda Hossain) of Ain O Salish Kendra
(ASK). She left her teaching career in law at the
University of Dhaka to commit herself fully to
this organisation of legal aid to the poor women
and became a champion of human rights, especially
of women and children and other disenfranchised
communities in Bangladesh.
Once I received Salma Sobhan at Changi airport of
Singapore shortly after the assassination of
Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi and as we were
heading to city she was discussing the tragedy
and how shocking it was to her sister (at that
time wife of the Crown Prince of Jordan) who knew
both Rajeev and Sonia from her Cambridge days. As
we were discussing the implication of this murder
for Indian politics, our English-speaking taxi
driver took part in our discussion. He said --
with a characteristic elitist bias -- why kill a
Prime Minister, why not an ordinary peasant?
Salma Sobhan interjected: "Why a peasant? His
life is as precious as that of the former Indian
Prime Minister", she argued. The exasperated
driver then said: "Ok, if you have to kill
someone, kill a dog". Salma Sobhan retorted,
human beings have souls and according to many
religions there is resurrection or transmigration
of soul but the poor dog, many believe, has no
soul; once it is dead, it is gone forever. Our
friendly driver, at that point gave up. Little
did he know that his passenger clad in a cotton
sari with unkempt hair from a red-eye flight and
an unassuming look was a barrister and a
humanist. I asked her later whether she knew
anyone in Singapore. Salma Sobhan told me
casually that she once met the wife of
Singapore's founding leader Lee Kuan Yew, Mrs.
Lee. Before she was Mrs. Lee and a senior at
Cambridge invited Salma Sobhan to a tea party
organised for a handful of female Asian law
students at Cambridge. Salma Sobhan quipped: you
can imagine how small that group was. I did not
press her for any statistics. Salma Sobhan was in
Cambridge from 1955 to 1957 and in 1958 was
called to the Bar at the tender age of 21.
In another occasion, Salma Sobhan was in
Singapore along with Ms. Kamal (Lulu Apa). They
gave a talk at a Singaporean NGO dominated by
lawyers and other female professionals. The
Singaporean feminist activists came to the talk
but were milling around as they were not
apparently impressed by the diminutive Salma
Sobhan with her ordinary looking sari and less
ordinary-looking mannerism. However, once she
started her speech, I saw a gradual change in the
audience behaviour. Those who were milling around
stilled, those who were standing began to sit. In
a few minutes, some of the Singaporean lawyers
were sitting on the floor with rapt attention to
her deliberations. What an engaging speaker she
was! The audience was spellbound. After the talk,
the documentary film "Eclipse" was screened to
the feminists in Singapore.
Salma Sobhan, a personality extraordinaire is no
more. I had the great privilege of dining in the
company of some extraordinary individuals who
glowed in their own light some years back. It was
a small gathering where Begum Shaista Ikramullah
(deceased), Mr. Obaidullah Khan (deceased), Dr.
Rahmatullah, his daughter, Dr. Mehraj Jahan and
myself sat around a Japanese styled table for a
simple but sumptuous dinner hosted by Salma
Sobhan and her husband Rehman Sobhan, a legend in
his own rights. In that dinner, I reminded Begum
Shaista Ikramullah of her essay published in the
Reader's Digest on a promise that Mr. Jinnah, the
founder of Pakistan made to her. The essay was a
recollection of a conversation Begum Ikramullah
had with Mr. Jinnah prior to the birth of
Pakistan. For a moment, I felt I was talking to
history. Like her mother, who authored the famous
book From Purdah to Parliament, Salma Sobhan was
an intellectual of great calibre and an
unparalleled moral integrity. Salma Sobhan wrote
a letter defending the publicity of Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the pages of The Daily
Star -- only when Awami League was out of power.
Salma Sobhan is survived by her loving husband
Professor Rehman Sobhan and two adorable sons
Baber, an economist and Jafar, who spurned a
cushy lawyer's career in New York to choose a
career of journalism in Dhaka. Such a move does
not surprise me for both her parents Salma
Sobhan, a personality extraordinaire, and Rehman
Sobhan stuck it out in Bangladesh amidst
adversities. For Salma Sobhan, Bangladesh was her
base. She lived here and now she will be in
eternal peace here forever. She will remain a
hero for all those who share her empathy for
humanity, especially for those who are socially
excluded and disadvantaged. She was a voice for
those needed it most. As a human being she was a
personification of humility and decency,
qualities we can collectively emulate.
Habibul Haque Khondaker is an Associate Professor
of Sociology at the National University of
Singapore.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Following is a letter Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
wrote from jail to his niece Salma Sobhan
reproduced from her mother Begum Ikramullah's
book Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy -- A Biography
Appendix XI
Central Jail
According to the News papers
today is 8 May 1962.
Hello my Junior-never-to-be
Congratulations to start with,
And now as an ancient relic I am expected to
offer you some sterling advice -- as you are
about to be hitched or nitched. Having made a
mess of my own life, and still in the further
process of doing so, I am the most competent
person to guide others, particularly in the
province of Dont's. What do these persons know of
the shape of things who have lived a sheltered
life, embosomed in the service of a providing
government -- other than they know everything,
they know and know what they will know. So I, am
an outcast, I am certified.
Now let us start with a non-controversial
premiso. You are preternaturally transcendentally
intelligent. It just oozes from you and you can't
conceal it. The above adverbs you have inherited
from your mother and the adjective from your
parents. Now the young man is also intelligent,
and sound and well-versed in his subject. Let
there be no conflict of intelligences. You may
scintillate in your arguments, but he is sounder
in his deductions. So learn how to give in and
try to conceal the spark under a bushel.
Item number two -- you will have to mix with
other people, relatives, friends, wives of
friends, take a place in society -- such as will
enhance the young man's prestige. But now -- the
other people. Normally they resent intelligence.
They happen to be normal, and have an inferiority
complex in the presence of better-equipped people
and they resent it. You will not realise it. You
will go in your own way -- a little introverted
-- and they will call you arrogant and proud,
although you really are a very humble little
creature, anxious to please dreading to hurt
people. Hence, what are we to do! We cannot make
them more intelligent, we can't go on defending
ourselves. I am afraid that it is a little cross
we have to bear. Afraid of you, they suspect you
before you open your lips. Now I cannot ask you
to shut your mouth -- it will be impolite to
do so and equally impossible for you to comply --
heredity stands in your way. But it is best to
let the other chatter and their talks will be
inane. The female, the modern one -- thank
Heavens, when I look at sundry females of our
family I find that that they have a higher sense
of dignity and social behaviour and harbour no
ill-will -- thinks it clever to talk ill of other
females -- slyly, by innuendoes. Do not fall into
the trap, never speak ill of anyone, however much
that anyone may deserve being spoken ill of --
this of course, I have not understood, why does
one deserve to be libeled. If X is bad, well it
is none of your business. In fact, speak well of
everyone -- or not at all. Best is, to treat them
as elder sisters, and give them a sense of
superiority, at least in the social aspects.
Next item. Set your own house in order, before
you start the social rounds or embark on social
service. Most important you may even learn how to
cook. Strange as it may sound it is a tradition
of Midnapur and of your family, to cook well from
the lowly pietha to the best qorma, qofta,
pulao,biryani (kutchi and pucci), seekh kabab (I
have never tasted anything equal to what my
sainted mother used to cook), shami kabab
(pharaira) murgh-i-musallam paratha (with several
parads, and at the same time khasta, on top, and
narm inside), feerni (sounds easy, but can be
very tasty), meetha tookra (rich and poor), and I
nearly forgot the exquisite (I am tasting it in
imagination, and drooling, but I have forgotten
the name, sign of sure senility -- I wish people
would realise I am senile and played out)
something sweet and sour with curd and onions and
you can have meat, fish (very good) fowl, (very,
very good) even shisah-rangea, nargisikabab,
ananas, and kabule pulao: and chutnis of all
kinds and bhartas (potatoes, brinjals, sutki,
chingri, fish, etc. etc).
I know of a person who is doing so much social
service that she is neglecting her home, allowing
the expenses to outstrip a fairly comfortable
income, and in her zeal, making enemies -- her
sole satisfaction being that she is really doing
good work and will go to heaven -- setting an
example that others can't follow and hence they
dislike her (inferiority complex I hope
disillusionment doesn't await her to break her
spirit). Begum tomatoes make excellent Chatnis.
In fact, I think you should not think of social
service now time is when you are a matron, and
your sympathies need bestowal on a wider circle
and here comes the crux (don't pronounce it as
crooks) of life. I think firstly, it is absence
of hate: and secondly, the positive feeling of
love. I do not know why I have never been able to
hate -- I almost think it is a weakness. Or it is
perhaps a streak in me of always trying to see
the other man's point of view and find
justification for him. I think was born with it,
and it has developed with legal training and a
judicial sense. Even in my childhood days I
always fought for anybody absent who was
attacked. I find that there are a few, very few,
I cannot think of but one or two who are just
intrinsically spiteful and vindictive, but they
can't help it, if God endowed them with a fiend's
nature. Others -- and this is true of nearly all
people seek to justify their actions by
arguments, or by principles, which, however
warped they may be, satisfy their conscience.
Hence, even when I was in power, and I have been
so for years together, with power to do harm to
my enemies, I have never victimised them. Indeed,
my party men, who understand more the
ruthlessness of politics, have always blamed me
for what they call my softness. Have I made
friends by my leniency and consideration! I have
yet to see. Unhappily it is those persons on whom
you confer benefits who are apt to stab you in
the back. Still, not to hate is morally
satisfying, and then, to love I think I do, and
would like to love everyone.
Only some won't have it. However, this is not the
proper occasion to deal with a subject so
abstrusely psychological it may have something to
do with senile decay. The reason why I have
digressed is that, I think that when one steps
into society one is apt to like and dislike and
it is more satisfying to like, and not to
dislike. And as an outer sign do not backbite,
there is nothing which I dislike more, and never
hit a person who is down. They must have your
sympathy, whether they deserve it or not.
Now, I think that is enough of sterling advice; I
hope it is not dross. But it is quite heavy. It
could be gold or lead. If lead, transmute it into
gold. I hear you can now spout French. Let me see
how far you have progressed when we meet. I took
it up after my detention; I have eased off
considerably: I find it easier to pass time being
lazy than being-industrious for nothing. I have
started Monte Cristo in French -- to discuss
common experiences when I meet him in the next
world.
I have received your mother's letter. She is
always worrying and explaining that she has
always replied to my letters etc, etc. Just ask
her not to worry. I do receive her letters and
they are as balm in Gilead or nectar to a thirsty
soul I would love to hear from her if she will
stop worrying about -- having written, or not
having written etc....
Now Salma, behave yourself, be a good girl and accept my cordial felicitations.
Lots of love.
Shaheed Mama
_____
[2]
To: <mailto:vajpayee at sansad.nic.in>Atal Behari Vajpayee
Cc: <mailto:pmosb at pmo.nic.in>pmosb at pmo.nic.in
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2003 1:15 PM
Subject: Letter to PM from Dr. Ashok Mitra
Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy
India Office: B-14 Gulmohar Park, New Delhi 110049. Tel (011) 26561743
Pakistan Office: 11 Temple Road, Lahore. Tel (042) 5713211
December 31, 2003
Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee
Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister's Office
South Block
New Delhi. 110011
Fax: (011) 23019334 / 23016857
Sub: Keeping the Wagha-Attari border open,
especially for the youth to cross on foot.
Dear Vajpayeeji,
I take this opportunity to thank you for keeping
the Wagha-Attari border open for the 250 Indian
delegates to the 6th Joint Convention of
Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and
Democracy. It was a very considerate decision on
the part of the Government of India and the
Government of Pakistan as without this
opportunity, many of our delegates could not have
made this journey to Karachi, where the
convention was held.
The 6th Joint Convention has been hailed as the
largest in terms of the participation of
delegates. Altogether about 500 delegates from
India and Pakistan, from different walks of life
were present. The most significant aspect of the
Convention was the active involvement of a large
contingent of youth from both countries. Their
enthusiasm, openness and friendship touched us
all. It encouraged us to believe that all these
years of demonisation each other have failed to
poison the minds of our youth.
I am aware that the Government of India has
decided to allow persons over 65 years to cross
the Wagha-Attari border on foot. While this is a
timely decision that will enable many elderly
persons to visit the members of their divided
families and also meet with old friends, I want
to request you to extend this facility to the
youth, particularly to those below the age of 25
years. On both sides young people have had very
little opportunity to know the neighbours. On
both sides there have been attempts to distort
the image of the neighbour in order to keep us
separated. The 6th Joint Convention has shown us
that the youth have the capacity to bridge these
gaps and reach across to each other in friendship.
Recently, you have announced several meaningful
steps for confidence building between India and
Pakistan. You will be going to Islamabad to
attend the SAARC summit. I request that you also
announce the decision to allow the young people
of India and Pakistan to cross the Wagha-Attari
border on foot. This will go a long way in
building meaningful relationship between the
younger generation of the subcontinent.
With regards and best wishes for the New Year
Ashok Mitra
Chairperson
_____
[3]
The Telegraph, January 1, 2004
A WEEKLY IS BORN
- A centenary tribute to a bhadralok editor
Ashok Mitra
Were he around, Sachin Chaudhuri, the
founder-editor of the journal, Economic and
Political Weekly, would have been bemused to see
that his journal has become a phenomenon, the
imprimatur of recognition for young social
scientists, and èminences grises too feel proud
to be part of it. He would have reason to be. He
was nature's escapist, vaulting from one passion
to another, from one pastime to another - and,
shall one add, from one pretence to another. A
dilettante of the most noble order, this
extraordinarily brilliant student of economics
from the University of Dacca in the mid-Twenties
loved to flunk examinations and walk away from
responsibilities. He could have been a Sanskrit
grammarian and easily slipped into the mantle of
a Mahamahopadhyay. He could have been a
first-rate professor of English literature
specializing in Tudor poetry. He could have been
an eminent Tagore scholar. And of course he had
the natural flair for delving into abstruse
economic theory.
Instead, he became in turn a khadi clad Congress
volunteer, an aspiring ascetic in the High
Himalayas, a vagabond in Calcutta subsisting on
spasmodic private tuition, a modish bohemian in
Bombay, an accidental entrant into the
journalistic circuit. Other roles followed: a
part-time film critic, a market reporter, a PhD
scholar at Bombay University, a script-writer for
BBC news reels, an editorial writer for Sunday
magazines. This was, after all, the annals of the
depressed Thirties and war-ravaged Forties. In
between, hold your breath, he was for a stint,
general manager of the Bombay Talkies. The few
left-overs from those times still remember the
sartorial transformation of Sachin Chaudhuri
during his Bombay Talkies days: the all-white
dhoti-kurta and sloppy chappals substituted by
prim three-piece suits, a display of demure ties
and shoes imported from Oxford Street.
Then an accident derailed him, and permanently.
Shortly after independence one of his younger
brothers went as a member of a semi-official
trade delegation to the United States of America.
The delegation was led by an economist of repute
who also edited a weekly economic journal for a
leading business house. The younger Chaudhuri was
sick of the senior economist's inanities and
marvelled at how reputations got built in India.
Returning to Bombay, he began pestering Sachin
Chaudhuri: if that doddering fossil could run a
successful economic newspaper, why not his senior
brother? The younger Chaudhuri talked to his
business associates, some funds were scraped
together and the The Economic Weekly had its
debut on January 1, 1949.
In the beginning, Sachin Chaudhuri took the
weekly paper as a joke, much like the other
experiments in career-building he had till then
indulged in. He infused its milieu with the zest
of a Bengali adda. His flat at Churchill Chambers
behind the Taj hotel was the epicentre of the
gossip sessions which constituted the
fountainhead of the output going into the The
Economic Weekly; a formal office however existed
right in the heart of the Bombay business centre.
Young cubs from the research staff of the Reserve
Bank of India and the University School of
Economics and Sociology at Churchgate were at
Chaudhuri's beck and call: it was a badge of
honour to be a part of the journal's fraternity.
Well-wishers from other seats of learning
contributed their mite. For instance, D.P.
Mukerji wrote from Lucknow the first editorial
note for the journal's inaugural issue, "Light
Without Heat". A.K. Dasgupta, still installed in
Benaras, kept sending his pathbreaking musings on
economic theory. Besides, the editor had his
innumerable friends in the world of politics,
business, journalism, films, music and the other
arts. They climbed the rickety lift of Churchill
Chambers from morning till late evening,
supplying the heat that was transmuted into the
The Economic Weekly's light. It was an absurd
cocktail of visitors. Aruna Asaf Ali, Ram Manohar
Lohia, Devika Rani, the economics professor, D.
Ghosh, the senior civil servant, P.C.
Bhattacharya, the stock market vigilante, H.T.
Parekh, maybe a stray Harindranath Chattopadhyay,
or Krishna Kripalani down from Santiniketan.
The editor was sort of a patriarch, and he would
control this mad menagerie in the manner of an
adept magician. Ideologies clashed, politics
separated the adda participants, mediocrities
rubbed shoulders with the clever-clever ones:
each of them was made to feel comfortable. Once
the crowd melted, Sachin Chaudhuri would
negotiate the distance to the formal office of
the The Economic Weekly and don the editor's
garb. He would take a chiselled lead pencil and
spend hours on end turning raw material sent in
by nondescript outsiders into publishable copies.
This is what made him a hero to the young lot.
Articles came in the post, crudely written,
lacking in logic, overwritten, reaching otiose
conclusions. Should he though discover the
glimmer of a new, intelligent idea in such a
draft, the editor would pounce upon it, and,
after several weeks' endeavour, render it into a
substantial-looking paper. That was the editor's
sense of fulfilment. That also helped to build a
permanent cadre of loyalists for the journal.
Sachin Chaudhuri's sorcery had another dimension.
He could order parallel lines to meet - and
opposites to co-exist. Which is why the The
Economic Weekly remained a forum, and never
turned into a caucus. This enhanced its general
acceptability, even when it chose to go against
the establishment grain. A product of the
Jawaharlal Nehru heritage, Catholicity came
easily to Chaudhuri and left ideologues too were
allowed a free run in the weekly's pages. The
editorial notes were often idiosyncratic, often
contradicting one another, for they were products
of heterogeneous minds. Quite a few economists
and civil servants wrote anonymously, giving vent
to views which could not find official outlet. It
was great fun in that liberal hour trying to
guess which civil servant was hiding behind which
nom de plume.
Jawaharlal Nehru was known to keep a copy of the
journal on his desk. That set off a fashion
amongst politicians and social climbers. Economic
policymaking was in that phase assumed to be a
collective co-operative venture belonging to the
public domain. The Economic Weekly was free with
its advice on the burning problem of the day. It
would reprimand the high-ups with gay abandon. A
governor of the *RBI had to put in his papers
after a tongue-lashing from the The Economic
Weekly.
Churchill Chambers and the The Economic Weekly
kept open house. At different times, Joan
Robinson, Hiren Mukherji, Vidia Naipaul, Hallam
Tennyson were house guests. Finances were always
precarious: there were days when the editor would
have to borrow from his acolytes to be able to
take out to lunch this or that distinguished
visitor. Chaudhuri's pride would not permit him
to approach industry for patronage, nor would he
cringe for government favours. Ministers treated
him with respect; he treated them, sometimes
without justification, with condescension.
The Economic Weekly grew. Fame and circulation
have often a negative relationship with revenue
accrual. That was its fate too. At a certain
stage, the original financiers balked and Sachin
Chaudhuri thought of calling it a day. He was
outvoted by his admirers and disciples. The
consequence was the Economic and Political
Weekly. There was some toying with the idea of
giving it a corporate shape; the final decision
was to set up a trust. But Chaudhuri, one
suspects, was not terribly interested. Although
he loved his whisky, he was a dormant Gandhian
too, and presumably he liked his journal to stay
as a cottage industry, surviving on a shoe-string
basis. This also gelled with his chaotic style of
living.
There he was, the reluctant skipper, watching
from his lonely cabin the launch of the new ship
in August 1966. It, the EPW, in due course
conquered the world. The founder-editor died
within six months.
Whether they acknowledge it or not, at least two
generations of economists and other social
scientists -some of them now global
celebrities-had their teething in the journal.
Sachin Chaudhuri the certified dilettante, saw to
it that cogitation over economics in the Indian
climate was something the rest of the world have
to look up to.
Today happens to be the centenary of his birth.
_____
[4]
[ Not all seems angelic and clean re the secular
political formation called JKLF, but here is an
interesting letter from its Chair to India's
Prime Minister and to the President o Pakistan. ]
Mohammad Yasin Malik
Chairman, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF)
JOINT NEW YEARS MESSAGE TO
PRIME MINISTER ATAL BEHARI VAJPAYEE
AND
PRESIDENT PARVEZ MUSHARAF
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
Republic of India
President Parvez Musharaf
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Your Excellencies,
As we bid farewell to 2003 and usher in 2004, I
would like to convey my sincere greetings and
well wishes for the New Year. The beginning of a
New Year is always a time to for introspection
and contemplation over the past as well as an
opportunity to look forward and envision new
possibilities and changes. It presents each and
every person with an opportunity to focus on
making necessary changes for the better for which
a new resolve and determination is required. For
leaders of nations and peoples, this perennial
moment of introspection must be applied towards
an earnest reflection upon the overall situation
and condition facing millions of countrymen. A
new vision for the future and a new resolve is to
be mustered for the benefit and welfare of the
people. As leaders of India and Pakistan, as
statesmen, you are presented with such a
tremendous responsibility. In this regards, I
would like to share some of my thoughts and
concerns.
As the New Year enters, it will again dawn upon a
South Asia that is facing dire tribulations. The
problems of poverty, illiteracy, and illness -
the challenges of development - continue to
afflict hundreds of millions of people. Yet the
most pressing threat to the welfare of the people
of South Asia is entirely avoidable: that is, the
continuing legacy of conflict and animosity that
the unresolved Kashmir Dispute continues to
spawn. After more than five decades the specter
of war is still hanging over us all. It is this
conflict that continues to widen the gulf between
the great peoples of South Asia and it is this
conflict that is sapping the creative and human
potential of the peoples of South Asia to achieve
a bright and prosperous future. Indeed, my
people, the people of Kashmir have suffered this
tragedy the most - words cannot express to what
extent this has been the case. Therefore, as the
New Year enters, it will also dawn upon a South
Asia whose people continue to be in need of the
cures that only peace can provide.
I believe that both of you have firmly grasped
the pressing need to initiate a peace process on
Kashmir and have voiced statesmen-like wisdom on
this, the likes of which have been seldom heard
from Indian and Pakistani leaders, and what is
more, from two leaders sitting in the highest
offices of India and Pakistan at the same time.
Prime Minister Vajpayee, I would like to recall
your reflections on this matter that you shared
with the world from Kumarakom on January 2, 2001
in which you firmly committed yourself to finding
a durable solution to the Kashmir Problem. I
deeply appreciate that you have promised to apply
no less than visionary statesmanship towards this
task when you declared: "We shall not traverse
solely on the beaten track of the past. Rather,
we shall be bold and innovative designers of a
future architecture of peace and prosperity for
the entire South Asian region".
President Musharaf, I would also like to recall
your repeated statements of recent in which you
have called for a peace process on Kashmir in
which both India and Pakistan would show
flexibility by going beyond stated positions. I
also deeply appreciate the statesmanship evident
in your bold calling for a step-wise peace
process, which would yield a win-win-win solution
acceptable to India, Pakistan and the people of
Kashmir.
It is a matter of hope to me that I find in your
respective public commitments a certain kindred
urge for peace and a shared appreciation that a
peace process on Kashmir will require
statesmen-like resolve and new creativity.
It is perhaps auspicious then that both of you
will have a chance to meet so soon in the New
Year during the upcoming SAARC Summit. While
there are extremist on all sides that may oppose
such a bold move on your parts, I urge both of
you to seize this opportunity to now translate
your visionary words into visionary deeds. It is
my sincere wish that you would now open a new
chapter in the history of South Asia by
implementing your respective public commitments
to begin a peace process that would yield a
lasting and just solution to the Kashmir Dispute,
one which would be in accordance with the wishes
of the people of Kashmir.
Given our firm stand that the people of Kashmir
can only decide the future of Kashmir we have
always opposed - and will always oppose - any
attempts by India and Pakistan to decide Kashmir
without the people of Kashmir. To convey this, we
have organized protests and strikes whenever
Indian and Pakistani leaders have held talks
portending to cover Kashmir. However, we have
decided not to protest at this time with an eye
towards giving peace a chance and in hopes of
encouraging an opening between India and Pakistan
for a broader peace process. Instead, I would
like to convey a message of earnest support and
convey my earnest request that you meet and
resolve to undertake a peace process that will
also effectively and meaningfully involve the
people of Kashmir in finding an agreeable
solution to all parties.
It is my firm belief that the principle of the
inclusion of the people of Kashmir is the missing
ingredient for a complete vision for a workable
peace process. If a peace process is to be just
and sustainable, it must be accepted that Kashmir
is not a territorial dispute; it is about the
future and aspirations of living people in
Kashmir. It is the reality of loss and injustice
faced by the Kashmiri population and the very
deep and real Kashmiri aspiration for freedom and
justice that encompass the major substantive
component of the Kashmir Dispute. Being the real
victims and subjects of this dispute, the
Kashmiris have a rightful, necessary, and
constructive role to play in the peace process.
No solution on Kashmir will be lasting unless it
is legitimate in the eyes of the people of
Kashmir. Quite simply, I submit that the key to
finding an agreeable middle-ground that will be a
win-win-win solution for India, Pakistan and the
people of Kashmir is to involve the credible and
legitimate representatives of the people of
Kashmir in the peace process.
This is not simply my own request; it is the
expectation of millions of my fellow Kashmiris
who strongly share this yearning that Kashmiris
should be involved in the process to develop a
shared vision for a peaceful and just future.
Indeed, this is the simple message that has
already been endorsed by hundreds of thousands of
Kashmiris through the ongoing Signature Campaign
that we have been carrying out at the grassroots
in Kashmir. Over the last 6 months, more than
800,000 Kashmiris have already endorsed a
petition in this regard. For your inspection, I
enclose the signed petitions. This is the true
voice of the people of Kashmir- men and women,
young and old. Kashmiris must be involved in the
peace process and we will continue this campaign
so that millions will back this message. We are
firmly determined to continue all nonviolent
efforts until the resounding voice of the people
of Kashmir can no longer be ignored.
I anticipate that your Excellencies will accept
the logic and fairness of this demand in
principle as it is in keeping with the
progressive and visionary nature of your
respective public commitments to peace. As you
continue the process of confidence-building and
advance towards a composite dialogue, we request
you to undertake serious efforts to evolve a new
mechanism for involving the people of Kashmir so
that India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir
can truly become partners in the search for
peace. This will give the fledgling process new
impetus and momentum, for which you will find
every kind of support from the people of Kashmir.
It is my hope that 2004 will mark a momentous
watershed for peace and stability in South Asia
and it is my resolve for the New Year that
Kashmiris will definitely contribute positively
and constructively towards this achievement.
Sincerely yours,
Mohammad Yasin Malik
Chairman, Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF)
Srinagar
______
[5]
The Hindu
January 31, 2003
'Psychological amnesia' assailed
By Our Staff Correspondent
MYSORE Dec. 30. Historian Prof. Irfan Habib, today
ridiculed certain cultural nationalists in the country
for displaying "psychological amnesia" with a view to
perpetuating their prejudiced ideas.
Delivering a special lecture on `History of
Urbanisation in India' during the concluding session
of the 64th Indian History Congress here today, Prof.
Habib traced the town in Indian history from 2500 BC
to the nineteenth century, raising vital issues
connected with the processes of urbanisation.
Emphasising the crucial role surplus produce,
political organisation and technology played in the
growth as well as decay of towns and cities, he
criticised the stereotypes being perpetuated without
any empirical evidence.
Assailing the prejudices and fantasies underpinning
the "psychological amnesia" of certain archaeological
and cultural nationalists, he said the unearthing of
archaeological sites or artefacts, which threw up
vital truths about history, were glossed over if they
came in the way of perpetuating their "favourite"
ideas.
He noted similar fantasies and prejudices in the
anecdotal history of certain British historians, and
the "new history" and "new archaeology" of the
American scholars. The basis for post-modern American
historical research does not lay sufficient emphasis
on the emergence of markets, the prevailing political
system or anthropology, he pointed out.
Professor Barun De, in his presidential remarks,
supported his view of de-urbanisation early under
British rule on the basis of his own work on Bengal.
The former Vice Chancellor of Guru Nanak University,
Amritsar, J.J. Grewal, who was also present during the
lecture session, said there was clear evidence of
proto-Dravidian language during the Rig Vedic period.
"It was the language spoken during the period.
Unfortunately, some scholars do not accept it."
The Secretary of the Urban History Association of
India (UHAI), Prof. Indu Banga, was also present on
the occasion.
Meanwhile, Prof. Arjun Dev, who participated in the
sessions of the Indian History Congress here, noted
that one of the notable "achievements" of the NDA
Government at the Centre had been the communalisation
of history through the NCERT.
He opined that the Centre had not only communalised
history but also destroyed it as an academic
discipline. Referring to the appreciation of the NCERT
by not only the Human Resource Development Ministry,
but both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime
Minister for "promotion of cultural nationalism," he
said this was nothing but an euphemism for promoting
communalism. Describing the NCERT as an organisation,
which at one time contributed significantly to
improving the quality of education in the country
through its curricula and educational material, he
said it was a pity that this organisation had been
reduced to its present state, where it had become an
object of ridicule.
______
[6]
Dawn, 31 December 2003
Now it's mannequins
By Omar R. Quraishi
There seems to be no end to the non-issues the
NWFP government readily involves itself in. The
most recent of these is now a ban placed on the
display of mannequins in clothing stores.
In the past few days, police in Peshawar have
ordered shopkeepers to take off mannequins or
face a penalty for promoting what the provincial
government says amounts to obscenity.
First it was a ban on all kinds of dance and
singing in the province, which led to most of
Peshawar's prominent musicians and theatre actors
either switching professions or migrating to
other provinces. Then, came the administrative
thunderbolt according to which male doctors were
told not to treat women patients. It didn't
matter whether the patient was on her death bed;
she had to be seen by a doctor from her own
gender.
The decision, according to several stories that
came in its aftermath, cost several dozen
pregnant women their lives, who died during
childbirth because female gynaecologists were not
available.
The fact that the NWFP is perhaps not the best of
places to find female doctors was obviously lost
on that province's government since imposing such
a ham-handed decision basically meant shutting
out hundreds of thousands of women from medical
treatment.
The decision to remove the mannequins is being
zealously implemented by the local police in
Peshawar. An AFP report (the matter was first
reported by this newspaper's Peshawar bureau last
week) quoted a shopkeeper with a store on the
city's bustling University Road that the "strange
decision" would be bad for business.
Among the other decisions taken by the provincial
government, apparently, to improve the quality of
life of residents in the NWFP, the following
merit mention: the establishment of a committee
headed by the provincial law secretary to make
suggestions to bring the existing laws in
conformity with Islam; establishment of a
committee to Islamize the system of education;
banning male coaches for women's sports teams;
making it mandatory for all girl students - from
the primary level to university - to wear a
hijab; formulating and implementing a rule
according to which all businesses must close down
at the time of prayer; formulating and
implementing a rule according to which all forms
of public transport must halt at prayer time, so
that passengers and the driver can offer their
prayers and making it harder for well-meaning and
credible non-governmental organizations to go
about doing their job of mobilizing and
empowering women in the province.
The zealousness of the provincial government in
ramming such edicts down the throat of an already
devout population was matched in fairly equal
measure by many local governments in the province.
For example, in Mansehra (a known jihadi
stronghold) the local barbers association, quite
ironically, vowed not to cut the hair of those
men who did not have beards.
The result of dealing with such non-issues was
that the NWFP government got a lot of bad press
not only in the foreign press but even inside
Pakistan. However, given that the province has a
host of major problems like lack of basic
education and health facilities, sanitation,
clean drinking water, industrial pollution in the
urban areas, unemployment in the rural areas,
corruption in the police and other government
departments, and the presence of a timber mafia
that has basically robbed the NWFP of its
once-glorious forest cover, something like
forcing shops to dispense with mannequins is
bound to invite censure and ridicule.
Recently, the province's chief minister,
according to a report in this newspaper, was
upset with the way his government had been
treated by the media.
He had said that the government had done a lot of
good work but kept on getting a bad press. Well,
what can he expect when his government goes ahead
and imposes a ban on, of all things, the display
of mannequins?
______
[7]
BBC News, 31 December, 2003
Letters home: India
BBC World Service's World Today programme is
looking at the end of year letters that ordinary
people want to share with the rest of the world.
Urvashi Butalia, who set up Kali for Women,
India's first feminist publishing house 20 years
ago, explains why 2003 has been a year of
dramatic change.
I'm an Indian woman, I'm 52-years-old, single,
and enjoying every moment of it. People often ask
me why I didn't marry, and the answer is that I
never actually had the time! I've been too busy
doing things I like, and believe in.
After many years of steadily working away at
Kali, this year brought sudden, and momentous
change. My co-founder and I had long been feeling
the need to move in different directions, and
this year, things came to a head and we decided
to take the plunge.
So now, we have our own imprints, housed under Kali.
We've taken to saying Kali the mother has given
birth to two daughters. Mine is called Zubaan -
which means tongue, voice, language - and much of
the year has been spent in setting up the new
imprint, creating a new identity, choosing new
areas to publish in while retaining the focus on
women.
It's exciting, and sometimes a bit wearing.
I find myself wondering whether it's sensible to
start something new at 50-plus, and then
thinking, but this isn't really new, it's more,
much more, of the same.
And since I so love doing the same, just thinking
that makes everything all right!
Kali originally grew out of the women's movement
in which I had been involved for a long time. As
we fought for changes in the law, and as we
confronted the state to demand our rights, we
realised that we knew very little about the
issues that were of concern to us.
Why, for example, was dowry taking the form it
had, or why were women facing certain kinds of
violence?
At the time, while I was politically involved in
the movement, my professional job was in
publishing.
I worked in a mainstream publishing house, Oxford
University Press, and every time I tried to speak
to my bosses about publishing books on women,
they would say: "Oh, that's not important, they
won't sell. Women don't really write, and what's
more, they don't read!"
So, I decided it was time to do my own thing and
I began to think of founding this publishing
house.
Even though I'd working in publishing, I knew
very little about running a business, and when I
look back now, I often wonder how I could have
had the courage to give up a salaried job, at age
32 and jump into something so uncertain.
But I have to say that I have never regretted my
decision, and there have been many interesting
moments.
For example, as a woman running a business, you
have to learn to be a boss, and you have to learn
to bring all your feminist ideals to bear on the
job. This isn't easy, and sometimes you just want
to hit people on the head rather than be
sensitive to their domestic problems, but, well,
you learn.
When I grew up, the feminist movement was all
about consensus and sharing, and we consciously
rejected hierarchies.
Now, in a different setting, I realise how
romantic this was and I know that if I wait for a
consensus before taking a decision, we'll be
waiting a long time!
I often think of myself as a very lucky person.
My political involvement in the women's movement
led me to a career in which I have been able to
do something that I am professionally qualified
to do but also something that I politically
believe in, and what's more, something that I
enjoy doing.
Very few people have this kind of good fortune.
And even after 30 or more years in the
profession, I still love the feel and smell of
each new book, as much as I love reading and
discussing them.
Every time a book arrives in our office, hot off
the presses, we touch it and feel it, and are
somehow constantly amazed at the ways humans have
found to transmit knowledge.
I remember once a friend of mine was watching me
as I unpacked and felt a new book.
"Why," he asked me, "can't you have that kind of sensual relationship with me?"
The World Today programme would like your
comments, to be broadcast on air. If you would
like to comment on this story, please use the
form on the right.
______
[8]
In the December Himal:
+ Nukes on the Subcontinent--A South Asian Roundtable
+ Who needs the World Social Forum?
+ The state of the Indian economy
+ Political Crisis in Sri Lanka
+ Hamza Alavi on Hamza Alavi
+ The politics of the university
<http://www.himalmag.com>http://www.himalmag.com
+ Notices +
+ International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development's position
+ announcement for
1)Programme Manager, Water, Hazard and Environmental
Management
2)Policy Development Specialist
<http://www.himalmag.com/ads/icimod.htm>http://www.himalmag.com/ads/icimod.htm
+ Nuclear Roundtable +
'Going Nuclear, Talking Nuclear'.
Social scientists and media professionals of India and Pakistan
discuss a topic over which a public veil is drawn--the nuclear
situation in the Subcontinent. Drawing on their experiences as
researchers, editors and publishers, participants examine the diverse
factors that determine the climate of nuclearisation in the region.
Critical, engaging and pragmatic, the discussions and accompanying
articles focus on bilateral geopolitics, domestic political
calculations, civil society and its constraints, the dynamics of the
technical establishment and the possibilities of denuclearisation
through the media and mass politics.
<http://himalmag.com/2003/december/roundtable_2.htm>http://himalmag.com/2003/december/roundtable_2.htm
+ Opinion +
'This very uncivil society'
Rahul Goswami reflects on globalisation and its malcontents. The
protest against contemporary corporate globalisation has been globally
institutionalised at the World Social Forum. As the WSF convenes for
the
first time in South Asia, questions arise about both the forum and its
slogan "Another world is possible"
<http://himalmag.com/2003/december/roundtable_2.htm>http://
himalmag.com/2003/december/opinion.htm
+Report+
'A lawless Subcontinent'.
The Asian Human Rights Centre's survey of the state of rights in South
Asia does not inspire much hope for the strengthening of a civil
politics that can put states in their place. For citizens the
prognosis is grim, unless...
+Recollections+
'Hamza Alavi: A life'
A renowned Pakistani scholar and poltical activist passed away on 1
December 2003 in his native Karachi. The passing of Hamza Alavi, a
pioneer of South Asian social science went unnoticed in the regional
media. To compensate, Himal South Asian reproduces extracts from
a
little known autobiographical sketch titled "Fragment of a Life",
which outlines his career before he began his academic life.
+Analysis+
'Is India really shining?'
"India shining" is the latest feel good line from the country's
macro-economic managers and their promotional agents. Mohan
Guruswamy,
Abhishek Kaul and Vishal Handa, of the New Delhi based Centre for
Policy Alternatives, examine the merits of this claim. A performance
comparison of the Indian and Chinese economies casts a dark shadow
on the
gung-ho slogan.
'Sri Lanka: Ball and chain syndrome'
Just as the peace process seemed to be rolling along smoothly a
crisis in the Sri Lankan polity sent it into a tailspin. But there is
more at stake in the tussle between the President and the Prime
Minister than just peace process. Suhas Chakma analyses the
compulsions of the Sri Lanka's two main political formations which
control influential institutions of the state and considers the long
term effects of the power struggle in the country.
+Perspective+
'An election at JNU'
The Jawharlal Nehru University in New Delhi is widely reputed to be
India's most left leaning educational establishment. History student and
former Himal staffer,Andrew Nash, casts a detached eye on the
mechanics of student politics at the university, and wonders how long
the
campus can insulate itself from mainstream political influences.
+ Commentary +
'Sri Lanka: President + Prime Minister = Peace'
Jehan Perera looks at the LTTE's power sharing proposal, the conflict
within the Sri Lankan state and the rationale that guides all parties to
the peace process in the country.
'Pakistan: Revolution and responsibility'
The State Bank of Pakistan's annual report for the current fiscal year
puts a gloss on one more year of the Musharraf regime and its
disastrous economic policies. Aasim Sajjad Akhtar reacts.
+ Southasiasphere +
'Words waiting to break the shackle'
Columnist CK Lal comments on South Asia's repressive
establishments and
finds people either waiting to speak their say or waiting to find what to
say.
+ Lastpage +
Princeton academic Zia Mian on historical empires, the American
Century, cultural co-option and the contradictions of global
power--all in one page.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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.
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