SACW | 30 May 2004

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire   |  30 May,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net

[1] Pakistan: State's religious and legal 
contradictions (editorial, The Daily Times)
[2] Religious Sword Over Pakistan (Mahnaz Ispahani)
[3] Bangladesh: Solidarity meeting for Anu Muhammed (May 30, 2004)
+ S Asian body Protests change of signboard
[4] Bangladesh:
[5] Sri Lanka: The Batticaloa Fiasco & the 
Tragedy of Missed Opportunities (UTHR)
[6] India: Secular activists to meet in Ahmedabad and Baroda ( May 30, June 2 )
[7] I Call For Entries 4th Karafilm Festival (The 
Karachi International Film Festival 2004)
[8] India:

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

[1]


The Daily Times [Pakistan]
May 30, 2004
Editorial

State's religious and legal contradictions

The Christian Samuel Masih, accused in a case of 
blasphemy, who was attacked by a police constable 
deputed to guard him, has died of his head 
injury. Earlier, the police arrested the 
constable who had attacked him and he is in 
police custody. The killer's reason was simple: 
Masih had allegedly blasphemed against the Holy 
Prophet (PBUH) and it was his (constable's) duty 
to kill him for doing so. This is a case that 
brings out, like nothing else, the myriad 
contradictions these laws have infused in this 
state and society.
Until 1979 when General Zia-ul Haq pushed the 
blasphemy business to the forefront of his 
Islamic legislation, only six people had been 
charged under blasphemy and all the cases were 
laughed out of the courts. Since '79 - in 1981 
the state stipulated that blasphemy was 
punishable with mandatory death sentence - there 
have been hundreds of cases. The lower courts 
have invariable sentenced the accused, though 
higher courts have always found the cases mala 
fide and freed the accused. However, for the 
accused this has meant spending seven to eight 
years in jail before the dispensation of justice. 
The accused are also at great risk during and 
after the trial. Some have been bumped off in 
jail and others have had to move out of Pakistan 
to avoid being killed.
When the government floated the idea of amending 
the procedure under which someone is accused of 
blasphemy, the rightwing lobby argued that it was 
best for people to be in police custody because 
after being thus charged a person was at risk of 
being killed by the people if he/she were allowed 
to remain at large. It was a diabolical argument. 
But even if it were accepted for the sake of the 
reasoning, what would the rightwing say now that 
a constable has chosen to kill an accused?
The fact is that it is a bad law both in its 
conception and its implementation. Hence it is 
flawed at both ends. Cases, in which under-trial 
accused have been killed by the direct or 
indirect involvement of law enforcement 
personnel, clearly show that the legislation has 
created a psyche that encourages vigilante 
behaviour. This is of course a problem that will 
always present itself when a state decides to 
blunder into the area of belief and legislate on 
the basis of the predominant religion.
The contradiction it sows is clearly visible in 
the conduct of the constable who, as an officer 
of the state, was deputed to ensure the safety of 
the accused. Instead, he chose to kill him. Why? 
Simply, because his perceived religious 
obligation overrode his duty as an officer of the 
law. He thought the law conflicted with his duty 
as a Muslim. Since he believed this to be a 
religious state, he felt that it could not have 
laws that conflicted with the higher aims of the 
state. His reasoning, flawed as it is, is 
logical, given the Pakistani state's own 
contradictions.
Punjab's Inspector-General Police says the 
training schedule so far does not have a 
consistent component on human and citizens' 
rights. The IGP wants to rectify this situation. 
Wonderful. However, this problem needs to be 
tackled at both ends of the spectrum. While the 
IGP is planning to do it at the low end of the 
spectrum, the state needs to do its own thing at 
the high end of the spectrum. This would require 
the state to reverse the retrogressive laws 
responsible for generating the contradictions 
that result in such tragedies and present 
Pakistan as a savage society refusing to heed the 
logic of pluralism. *

o o o

[Related material]

Blasphemy law case: Samuel faces trial under Section
295 of PPC

* CLAAS files petition against Kot Lakhpat jail
superintendent

By Waqar Gillani and Zainab Khar
Daily Times: May 27, 2004

LAHORE: Samuel Masih, 27, a suspect in a blasphemy
case, who is in critical condition at the Lahore
General Hospital after a police constable hit him on
the head with a brick cutter, has been charged under
Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which carries
a maximum sentence of up to two years.

According to the first information report lodged
against Samuel, he littered the wall of Darul Islam
Masjid in Lawrence Gardens on August 23 last year.

Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqoob, librarian of the Darul
Islam, who lodged the FIR stated: ìI work as the chief
librarian at Idrae Darul Islam in Jinnah Garden. I was
sitting in the mosque and was reciting the Quran. I
saw a stranger, whose name was later found out to be
Samuel, the son of a man named Emanuel, spitting on
the mosqueís wall where the mosqueís plaque is placed.
I stopped him from doing so. Qari Riffat and Darul
Islamís library assistant Muhammad Aslam also saw
this.î

There are four sections of the PPC, which provide
punishment for a person accused of blasphemy: Sections
295, 295 A, B and C. Section 295 says that the
punishment of a person could be extended to a maximum
of two years or a fine or both if he defiled a place
of worship with the intent of insulting the religion
of any class.

The Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement
(CLAAS), a non-government organisation working for
minority rights, has been pursuing the case since
August 23 last year. The NGO said it was the second
case of its kind in which Section 295 of the PPC was
imposed. Samuel was sent to Kot Lakhpat jail for
trial.

Samuel was suffering from tuberculosis and had to be
admitted to Gulab Devi Hospital on Friday, May 21
after a TB attack in jail. The next morning, Constable
Faryad Ali reportedly attacked him with a brick cutter
in the presence of another guard. ìI wanted to earn a
place in heaven by killing him,î is what constable Ali
is reported to have said. Samuel was subsequently
transferred to Lahore General Hospital.

CLAAS has filed a writ petition in the Lahore High
Court against the Kot Lakhpat jail superintendent and
Dr Sikandar, who were in charge of the emergency ward
when Samuel was admitted after being reportedly hit
over the head by a constable. The NGO has questioned
how the accused was attacked even in police custody.
The court will hear the petition on June 2. Samuel was
still in serious condition under police custody when
this report was filed. The police have barred visitors
and his relatives were reportedly refused permission
to see him on Wednesday. Constable Ali, who attacked
Samuel on May 22, was sent to jail after a case was
registered against him.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistanís fact-finding
team, CLAAS and other NGOs have declared the incident
an example of the misuse of blasphemy law.

ìA third person, who did not know about the case,
assumed Samuel was a blasphemy culprit and attempted
to murder him,î said Joseph Francis, the CLAAS
coordinator. He said the government should revise the
blasphemy law.

Waseem Anthony of the Commission for Peace and Human
Development said the life of citizens was at stake due
to the abuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan.

Samuelís younger brother Sarwar told Daily Times they
were told about the incident two days later. He said
the whole family was dependant on Samuel. Samuel was
whitewasher, said Sarwar. He said that Samuelís became
mentally unstable after the death of their mother and
he was not in his senses when he left home on August
23. ìThe day when this incident happened, Samuel left
home in anger because he had a fight,î he said.

_____

[2]

Los Angeles Times [USA]
21 May 2004
COMMENTARY

Religious Sword Over Pakistan
By Mahnaz Ispahani

May 21, 2004

This month in Karachi, Pakistan, at least 14 
Shiites were killed and more than 100 were 
severely wounded while at prayer. Scores more 
were massacred by Sunni militants in Quetta 
earlier this year. In the last decade, more than 
1,200 people have died in Shiite-Sunni violence. 
Today, sectarian dispute is Pakistan's Achilles' 
heel, challenging the officially sanctioned 
"Islamic" state - and endangering the country's 
future.

If Pakistan is to survive, Sunni extremists - who 
advocate violent anti-Shiism and an exclusionary 
form of Islam - must be brought down. It is not 
enough for President Pervez Musharraf to seek the 
capture of foreign jihadists from Al Qaeda and 
the Taliban. He must aggressively fight homegrown 
militancy. That's what it will take to make 
Pakistan the "liberal, tolerant, progressive, 
dynamic and strong Islamic state" that Musharraf 
proposes, and millions of ordinary Pakistanis 
insist that it can be, rather than a militant's 
paradise.

Pakistan's founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, was a 
Shiite, as were several others who helped him 
create the new homeland for Muslims. Many Shiites 
continue to serve and lead Pakistan. They are 
Islam's and Pakistan's largest religious 
minority, making up about 30 million of the 
nation's 148 million people. Yet today they live 
in escalating terror.

Their crisis is Pakistan's, emerging from three 
reinforcing developments. The first is the 
"Islamization" of laws, army and society begun by 
President Gen. Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s. The 
second is the largely unchecked and growing 
prowess of Sunni extremist groups in their war 
against Shiites. For them Shiites are "kafirs," 
or infidels. The third is the persistent pressure 
since Pakistan's creation for ever-purer Islamist 
politics by the religious political parties, 
which today are key players in parliament and 
control the strategic Northwest Frontier Province.

Before Zia put his puritanical religious lens on 
Pakistani public life, small-scale Shiite-Sunni 
disturbances flared occasionally but were largely 
considered law-and-order problems.

In Zia's time, however, the state itself became a 
sectarian player, espousing particular Sunni 
schools of Islamic law. Shiites then organized to 
resist these laws, which are unacceptable to 
their traditions. A segment became radicalized, 
leading to an increase in tit-for-tat violence 
between Sunnis (supported by Saudi Arabia) and 
Shiites (supported by Iran).

Today, while extremist Shiites try to retaliate 
against their enemies, it is mostly ordinary 
Shiites who die at the hands of groups espousing 
an anti-Shiite ideology of "kill the infidels." 
These same groups are jihadist and pair their 
deadly pursuit of Shiites with regional and 
global terror activities. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the 
group suspected in many Shiite massacres, is 
pro-Taliban, has links to Al Qaeda and is 
reported to have played a role in the 2002 
killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel 
Pearl. Strategic assaults have been launched 
across Pakistan against Shiite doctors who 
ministered in their communities and on Shiite 
men, women and children inside houses of worship 
and on busy streets. Prominent Shiites move 
around with armed bodyguards.

The roots of this crisis of Muslim identity go 
back even further than Zia's days, to the 1950s, 
when the leadership of Pakistan's most organized, 
urban religious group, the Jamaat-e-Islami, and 
other like-minded parties began to use Islam to 
foster exclusionary politics and public riots by 
politicizing the question, "Who is a Muslim?"

The Jamaat led a successful movement to have the 
small Ahmediyya sect - which is doctrinal 
anathema to the Jamaat - declared non-Muslims by 
the state. In 1974, the then-secular and 
politically weak Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali 
Bhutto obliged it with a constitutional 
amendment. Then, in 1984, Zia made it a criminal 
offense for Ahmedis to even call themselves 
Muslims.

With the ouster of the Ahmedis from the fold, the 
tone was set for progressively more intolerant 
politics.

Today, a member of parliament can comfortably 
call a Shiite an infidel. The Sunni extremist 
Azam Tariq was infamous for his anti-Shiite 
violence. Yet he could flourish, winning a 
national assembly seat several times - most 
recently in 2000 - from his jail cell while 
facing dozens of criminal charges. He became an 
ally of the pro-Musharraf parliamentary party. 
Two days before he was assassinated, he told the 
New York Times - in his most moderate mien - that 
Shiites need not be killed; rather they "should 
merely be declared non-Muslims and jailed for 10 
or 15 years."

Even as Musharraf bans certain groups and speaks 
out against sectarian violence, the militants 
flourish and the number of dead rises. One wants 
deeds as unflinching as his words. Only if he is 
able to put a full stop to the kind of 
Islamization that makes a mockery of an inclusive 
Muslim homeland; only if he eliminates the 
sectarian-jihadi complex that feeds off Shiites 
and other minorities' lives, only then will 
Pakistan have a secure future.

If Musharraf fails, then the question, "Who is a 
Pakistani Muslim?" could destroy all hope for a 
more progressive and peaceful Pakistan.

Mahnaz Ispahani is a senior fellow for South and 
West Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.




_____


[3]


Public meeting on Sunday 30th May

A platform for Writer, Teacher, Artist and Cultural Worker called a public
meeting on Sunday (30th May) at 5:30 p.m. in front of National Museum,
Shahbag, Dhaka protesting Continuous Bomb Attack, Uprising of Religious
Fundamentalists and Attack on Anu Muhammad. The platform had been
organizing public meeting, procession and discussion for mass movement
especially during siege of Shahid Minar from Public in 2002 (Against Attack
on Shamsunnahar Hall), in March 2004 (Protesting attack on Humayun Azad and
freedom of expression), and in April 2004 (Discussing on Recent Cultural
Situation of Bangladesh). The forum called all conscious people to join the
meeting for strengthening the movement against all
anti-public activities.

Please also visit our web site www.meghbarta.org for more details and
updates

Nasrin Siraj Annie
Sub-editor
www.meghbarta.org
Dhaka


_____


[4]

The Daily Star [Bangladesh]
May 30, 2004	 
  	 
Editorial

Ahmadiyyas under siege in Chittagong
Going from bad to worse
The International Khatme Nabuyat Movement took 
its anti-Ahmadiyya agitation to Chittagong on 
Friday, with hundreds of stick-wielding 
demonstrators besieging the city's Ahmadiyya 
mosque, and reiterating their demand for 
Ahmadiyyas to be declared non-Muslims by the 
government. Once again, the local authorities 
caved in to the mob pressure and agreed to hang a 
sign "warning" Muslims that the mosque was an 
Ahmadiyya place of worship and should not be 
mistaken for a Muslim mosque.


Let us repeat this point. The sign was hung up by 
the police. The police claim to have done so in 
order to maintain the peace. Thus, in the name of 
"maintaining the peace" the government has been a 
party to the continuing stigmatisation and 
marginalisation of the Ahmadiyyas.

It is interesting that the government is forever 
bemoaning the image problem that Bangladesh 
suffers from, and castigates the media, the 
opposition, and even watchdog international 
organisations for contributing to this negative 
image which is so harmful for the country.

It does not seem to occur to the government that 
nothing anyone else can say or do could possibly 
harm our image as a country more than this kind 
of religious intolerance that it not only eschews 
but also condones. There is simply no place for 
this kind of obscurantist and reactionary 
religious repression in the Bangladesh we are 
professing to want to create. The world, even we 
have come too far to permit ourselves to revert 
to this kind of backwardness.

The government owes an explanation to all of us 
as to where it stands with respect to 
safeguarding the constitutional right to freedom 
of religion.

If in a nation of 130 million people we cannot 
afford to give space to one lakh Ahmadiyyas 
because of the sectarian orthodoxy of a handful, 
who do not care for civic peace and law and 
order, what kind of a signal are we putting 
across in terms of both governance and our 
credentials as a moderate Muslim country? 
Certainly nothing to be proud of.

o o o

See Related Material
The Daily Star
May 30, 2004
  	 
Ahmadiyya Mosque
S Asian body Protests change of signboard
DU Correspondent
The South Asian People's Union against 
Fundamentalism and Communalism yesterday 
protested the change of signboard of Ahmadiyya 
community's 90-year-old Baitul Baset Mosque by 
police following demands of 'extreme 
fundamentalist force'.

A statement signed by the organisation's 
President Prof Kabir Chowdhury and Member Prof 
Muntasir Mamun said the BNP-Jamaat alliance 
government is patronising the Islamist outfit, 
International Khatme Nabuyat Movement (IKNM), 
like the Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh led by 
its operations commander Bangla Bhai, trampling 
human rights and democracy.

Police are helping the Islamist force as they are 
helping Bangla Bhai's men in the northern 
districts, the statement said and added 
Bangladesh is going under a Taliban-like rule.

The statement urged the conscious citizens and 
progressive political parties to get united to 
resist the religious extremists.


______


[5]

UTHR

http://www.uthr.org/bulletins/Bul36.htm


University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna)
Sri Lanka
UTHR(J)*

Information Bulletin No. 36


Date of Release: 29th May 2004

The Batticaloa Fiasco
& the Tragedy of Missed Opportunities

Introduction

PART I:

The Continuing Tragedy of Child Soldiers
Karuna releases the children under his command
New Conscription in the North and Trinco
Trauma
Re-examining the statistics of a widespread tragedy

PART II:  Karuna’s Gamble

The Killings Begin
The LTTE’s business partners
The Undermining of Karuna
The word games commence
What happened in Verugal
The White Flag Incident
Giving charge of patrimony

Part III: The Elections and their aftermath

A triumph of fascist diplomacy?
The TNA’s lethal democracy
The Return of the Ellalan Force
The Recolonisation of Sri Lanka
A National Consensus vs. Mounting Anarchy

Appendix
Children Abducted by LTTE(P)



Summary

This latest bulletin by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna)
assesses the role of institutions responsible for protecting the rights
civilians in the wake of Karuna’s rebellion and the April election.  The
LTTE(P)’s routing of Karuna’s forces (accomplished with the active or
tacit support of Sri Lanka authorities and the international community)
left no clear authority in place in Batticaloa, and mistrust all around.
In the vacuum, both sides began weeding out their opponents, including
military and intelligence cadres and also influential academics and
businessmen. The region began slipping into anarchy.

Child soldiers released from Karuna’s army have chilling stories to tell
of their experiences under the LTTE. Their testimony makes clear that
recruitment is ongoing, and the traumas experienced by children and
families are profound. As more parents gather the courage to go public
with their complaints, the true scope of the problem is emerging, exposing
the half-truths of organisations that have shown more interest in
protecting their own international reputations than preventing abuse.

The bulletin criticises the insufficient and ineffectual official response
to the LTTE’s systemic and unchecked use of violence and intimidation
against opponents engaged in electoral politics, culminating in
wide-spread vote rigging in the North and East.

The bulletin stresses that international agencies and donors cannot take
the place of a self-respecting civil society and state institutions backed
by a national consensus and sense of purpose.  It urges the Sri Lankan
people to become responsible agents of their own destiny. It calls on the
government to show the LTTE that it is ready to discuss political
solutions, to tell the international community the terms on which it will
deal with them, to seek new friends, and new economic models.

The attempt to make peace here giving second place to democracy and human
rights is having its logical consequences.

As expected we are now seeing a rising incidence of killings -
Prabhakaran’s people by Karuna’s people and vice versa, and government
security personnel by Prabhakaran’s people on the suspicion that they are
aiding Karuna. Prabhakaran is today almost exclusively dependent on his
intelligence chief Pottu Amman and a handful of other northern cronies,
backed by 500 or so northern cadres, to restore his control in Batticaloa.
Given Prabhakaran’s proclivity to provoke a war whenever he feels
cornered, the prospect of one is nearer now.



______

[6]


Dear Friends,

First and foremost, a big warm hug and 
congratulations to all those who dared to dream 
the possibility of the ouster of the fascist 
regime that ruled our country!! Many of us have 
wished for this day and many others have 
contributed, in big and small ways, to make this 
day a reality.

With the electoral defeat of the NDA government, 
all of us who are committed for a just and 
secular society can surely breathe a sigh of 
relief  but we know that this is not the end of 
the journey. Perhaps, now is the time to put our 
hearts and experience together and come up with 
some concrete action points that we would like 
the present UPA government to look into and 
rectify.

We therefore, propose a one day meeting on the

1st of JUNE, 2004. 10.30 am onwards

  at

  PRASHANT [Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad]


to come up with a CHARTER OF DEMANDS
TO BE PRESENTED TO and LOBBYED WITH THE UPA GOVERNMENT.

Some of the issues and concerns that the CHARTER OF DEMANDS could raise are:

suggestions/issues related to LEGAL and  SOCIAL 
JUSTICE to VICTIMS of the GENOCIDAL CARNAGE 
[including GODHRA TRAIN VICTIMS]

suggestions/issues related to TRAIL and 
PUNISHMENT of all public servants [CIVIL 
SERVANTS, POLICE OFFICIALS, POLITICIANS and the 
CHIEF MINISTER] responsible for the CARNAGE

suggestions related to a SPEEDY and 
TRANSPARENT   COMPLETION of Justice NANAVATI 
COMMISSION

suggestions related to effective implemenation of 
NHRC's RECOMMENDATIONS, like establishment of 
SPECIAL COURTS etc

suggestions related to DE-COMMUNALISATION the educational CURRICULUMS

suggestions related to DE-COMMUNALSATION of all 
research, educational and other INSTITUTIONS

and ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS/ISSUES/CONCERNS that we need to raise.

We request that you please give some thought to 
these issues and come prepared for the meeting so 
that we have a concrete list of action points 
that can be lobbied with. For example, it is NOT 
enough that for our CHARTER OF DEMANDS to broadly 
mentions that 'communal elements should be weeded 
out from all institutions'. We must able to 
provide a list of such institutions that have 
been infected with the communal virus and, if 
need be, even name those persons we think need to 
be removed!

We would be grateful, if those who cannot make it 
to this meeting can SEND us their CONCRETE 
SUGGESTIONS via EMAIL a day prior to the meeting 
[by the 31st May]

Anhad [Act Now for Harmony & Democracy] takes the 
responsibility of presenting the CHARTER OF 
DEMANDS and lobby with all concerned ministries 
and party officials of the UPA and its supporters.

We must continue to keep alive the secular agenda 
and hope that this exercise will be a step 
forward in that direction...for we can breathe 
easy but cannot afford to doze off!

Hope to see you all on the 1st JUNE.


Sincerely,

Shabnam Hashmi,   Harsh Mander,   Stalin K

(Note: Baroda meeting wd be on June 2 morning. 
for details contact Raj Hans 
<mailto:rajkhans at yahoo.com>rajkhans at yahoo.com)



_______


[7]


  CALL FOR ENTRIES

4TH KARAFILM FESTIVAL
THE KARACHI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2004

Submissions of Features, Short Features, 
Documentaries and Short Films are invited for the 
4th KaraFilm Festival to be held in Karachi, 
Pakistan in December 2004.

The KaraFilm Festival is a non-governmental, 
not-for-profit venture dedicated to showcasing 
quality work in the visual medium from around the 
world and to nurturing creativity. Pakistan's 
only competitive international film festival, it 
is also a space for interaction between 
filmmakers, actors, writers and audiences and is 
committed to exchange between artists from 
different cultures and countries. In the past we 
have screened films from Pakistan, India, 
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, China, United 
Kingdom, USA, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, 
Japan, Russian Federation and New Zealand.

Work may originate on film or video format. There is no entry fee.

Please check our website: 
<http://www.karafilmfest.com>http://www.karafilmfest.com 
for more information and the Entry Info section 
for submission requirements.

E-mail: <mailto:info at karafilmfest.com>info at karafilmfest.com



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

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
matters of peace and democratisation in South 
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit 
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DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
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