SACW | 16 June 2004

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire   |  16 June,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net

[1]  Pakistan: The Harvest of Hate (Massoud Ansari)
[2]  Pakistan: JAC demonstrates against blasphemy law (News Report)
[3]  India: Hardline Hindutva Or Rudderless Drift 
- The future of the BJP (Praful Bidwai)
[4]  India: Pradyumna Kaul, the well known analyst and campaigner dies
[5]  India: Background News and Op-Ed. Material 
URLs + Important letter etc. from India's LGBT 
activists accompanied by a review article by 
Tejal Shah about this homophobic film called 
Girlfriend
[6] India: Spectacular Expose of Satya Sai Baba on BBC 2!
[7] India: Two steps back in Lucknow (Seema Alavi)
[8] India: Gujarat: Press Release (Rohit Prajapati, Tripti Shah)
[9] India: 'In Defence of Our Dreams' 
Docu-lecture series VCD format is available


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


[1]

Newsline [Pakistan]
June 2004
Cover Story

The Harvest of Hate

Militants trained for decades by the 
establishment in Pakistan to further its 
political agenda abroad are more dangerous than 
ever - and now the battleground is their own 
country.

By Massoud Ansari

"All explosives are poisonous and can explode if 
triggered by fire or pressureŠ Always cut your 
nails properly and do not rub your eyes with your 
hands during the workŠ Wear protective glasses 
especially if working with substances that bubble 
during a chemical reactionŠ Do not rely on 
memory. Write down all your experiments, as well 
as the time, date and weatherŠIn the beginning do 
not try to make explosives in large quantitiesŠ"

            These are just some of the tips 
contained in a hand-written notebook recently 
recovered by the police from the possession of a 
militant in Karachi. It reveals the contents of 
the clandestine training given to aspiring 
terrorists. According to the "aims and 
objectives" section of the notebook, the course 
teaches "techniques of making explosives and 
lethal poisons from substances easily available 
in the market anywhere in the world." Thus, 
detailed in the book, accompanied by neatly 
labelled illustrations, are not only the 
differences between various explosives, but also 
methods for converting an innocuous washing 
machine timer into a timer for a bomb, purifying 
the lowly aspirin tablet to obtain chemicals for 
use in explosives, and so on.

            Also included are meticulous 
instructions for obtaining purified alcohol for 
use in explosives. An excerpt reads, "Alcohol is 
highly inflammable and its tolerance in the air 
is 1000 P.P.M." The same notebook reveals that 
trainees were also taught the speed of bullets 
fired by different weapons and the distance at 
which they could kill or injure. Reads an 
excerpt; "The bullet of an AK-47 or kalashanikov 
travels at the speed of 825 metres per second, 
while that of a G-3 rifle travels at 800 metres 
per secondŠ a bullet from an automatic pistol can 
travel a distance of 300 metres at the most, kill 
up to 50 metres, and injure up to a distance of 
150 metres."

            The escalation in terrorist attacks in 
Pakistan over the past couple of years shows that 
militants are putting their training to good use. 
They are also becoming adept at staying one step 
ahead of the law-enforcement agencies.

            Police officials admit that when any 
militant is caught today, it is less on account 
of the civilian agencies' efficiency than slips 
made by the militants themselves. "They employ 
methods that don't allow modern surveillance 
gadgets to track them," says a Sindh police 
official. According to him, militants have been 
given strict instructions by their high command 
to communicate with each other by word of mouth 
rather than through mobile or satellite phone 
unless essential, and in that case, quickly 
dismantle the phone once the conversation is 
over. "Moreover, they make calls from these 
phones from crowded locations, particularly 
commercial centres, where it is difficult for the 
security agencies to isolate them and listen in 
to their conversation to detect their 
whereabouts," says a source.

            However, a number of militants have 
been arrested, and they have proved to be a 
useful source of information. The police has 
learnt, for instance, that militants have devised 
a system of communicating with each other through 
coded SMS on their mobile phones, aware that 
intercepting these among hundreds of thousands of 
such messages is virtually impossible for local 
agencies. A list of these coded messages, in 
which each is assigned a three-digit number, has 
been distributed amongst its cadres. Local police 
recovered one such list from the possession of a 
recently arrested local militant in which, on a 
single sheet of paper, at least 250 to 300 such 
messages were jotted down. To direct someone to 
go underground, an SMS message simply bearing the 
number 721 would be sent, or, if a weapon was 
needed, the number 730. All important meeting 
places, different kinds of weapons, explosives, 
and other communiques likely to be used on a 
regular basis were included in the list.

             The situation today, with militants 
driving the agenda and keeping the police 
guessing, is an outcome of the unfortunate 
confluence several decades ago of international 
policies and self-serving, short-sighted 
strategies on the national level. Before the 
1980s, religion was not a contentious issue in 
Pakistan. A fundamental change, however, that 
altered the very character of Pakistani society, 
occurred after the installation of a 
Soviet-backed communist regime in Afghanistan. In 
order to fight a proxy war against the Soviets, 
the US bankrolled the arming of the mujahideen 
who were motivated for battle through religious 
propaganda urging them to expel the 'infidels' 
from Muslim Afghanistan. The policy was executed 
through General Zia-ul-Haq in Pakistan, who was 
desperately seeking a raison d'etre for his 
military rule, and who seized upon this 
opportunity to ensure his political survival and 
establish his Islamic credentials in the process. 
Thus the two agendas coincided and the war 
against the Soviets became a 20th century 
gun-and-rocket jihad against 'infidel invaders'.

           Between 1979 and 1988, the Zia 
government gave free rein to the proponents of 
jihad and strengthened the hand of the Muslim 
clergy. Official funds were increasingly 
channelled into the establishment of religious 
seminaries, which began to mushroom across the 
country. Local youth, stirred by the call of 
jihad emanating from pulpits, were encouraged to 
join their Afghan brethren across the border in 
their fight against the 'infidel forces.'

           A few years later, the struggle for the 
liberation of Kashmir received fresh impetus and 
Pakistani jihadis discovered another arena in 
which to wage holy war. Some even joined militant 
forces in Sudan and Algeria, while others went to 
Sinkiang province in China to lend their support 
to the nascent Islamist movement there.

           During this period, thousands of youth 
were trained in militancy in camps run directly 
under the supervision of the Pakistan army. "They 
were encouraged to enlist and undergo training in 
return for the promise that they would not be 
coerced into fighting if they didn't want to do 
so," says an official. However, no effort was 
spared to win their loyalty and make them stay 
the course. According to insiders, breakfast was 
served with milk and honey and meat was in 
plentiful amounts at lunch and dinner, a far cry 
from the frugal fare offered to most regular 
soldiers. And then, of course, there was the 
brainwashing that ensured that most recruits 
would set aside their personal agendas and 
voluntarily turn to jihad.

             Ali Khan, a hardcore militant of the 
outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, is a case in point. 
Believed to be one of the two local militants who 
witnessed the slaughter of the Wall Street 
Journal's South Asia reporter, Daniel Pearl, in 
Karachi some two years ago, Khan told his 
interrogators that in the beginning he had no 
intention of taking part in jihad. "I was a 
little child when my elder sister was divorced 
and I decided that when I grew up I would kill my 
brother-in-law for divorcing her without any 
reason," he said.

             According to Ali Khan's admission, 
when he joined the training camp in Kashmir, this 
was the extent of his desire for vengeance. "But 
I realised the pettiness of my original intention 
during the course of my training and decided to 
concentrate more on jihad and fight against the 
real enemies of Islam," he said. Khan, who later 
went to Afghanistan for further training, fought 
alongside the Taliban and was also involved in 
the sectarian killings of several Shias, 
including a father and son in Karachi.

             Scores of other such militants went 
to Afghanistan during the Taliban regime, where 
they enrolled in camps affiliated with or even 
run by Al-Qaeda. According to insiders, a wide 
range of skills were imparted here, from the use 
of different kinds of weapons, to the art of 
converting easily available substances into 
deadly explosives. For instance, they were taught 
to extract a purified 'finale' from Lifebuoy - a 
commonly used soap in Pakistan - and mix it with 
other chemicals to convert it into secondary 
explosives.

             At the camps in Afghanistan, 
militants were shown how to conceal weapons and 
draw cryptic diagrams that could only be 
understood by their comrades in case they needed 
to retrieve the caches. Sources said that they 
mastered a method in which diagrams were drawn 
using colour-coding, the initials of the 
location's name and minute symbols for various 
buildings, railway stations, cemeteries and 
trees, as well as the quantity and type of 
weapons dumped. According to insiders, just 
before the toppling of the Taliban, its cadres 
had hidden huge caches of weapons which they set 
about retrieving with the help of such maps once 
they initiated their guerrilla war against the 
coalition forces.

             From events over the past few years - 
the hundreds of sectarian assassinations, attacks 
against western interests, and now suicide 
bombings - it is clear that the policy of giving 
institutional support to extremist elements for 
pursuing the establishment's agenda abroad has 
now come home to roost. Religious wars are not 
merely being exported, they are being fought on 
local turf. Today, highly-disciplined and 
motivated groups of Islamic militant 
organisations operate in almost every 
neighbourhood of Pakistan.

             These trained brigades have become a 
liability particularly in the wake of 9/11 when, 
under international pressure, President Musharraf 
chose to disassociate the Pakistani government 
with the jihadi cadres. Several militant 
organisations were banned and their accounts 
frozen. With the ousting of the Taliban, and the 
closure of their principal nursery in 
Afghanistan, the militants, now driven as much by 
their hatred of the state apparatus that 
abandoned them as they are by their abhorrence of 
the west, are twice as dangerous. It is open 
season against the establishment. No one, from 
President Musharraf to a lowly constable, can 
consider himself immune from the fallout. Several 
senior police officials, who feature on the 
militants' hit list, have been compelled to take 
extraordinary measures for their security.

             Senior police officials contend that 
by the time the Pakistan government decided to 
take action against these militants, it was 
already too late. Moreover, they say, after the 
banning of the extremist groups, the task of 
keeping track of the militant cadres has been 
rendered more difficult. "We used to monitor the 
headquarters and ringleaders of five or six 
groups, but after the ban, they have scattered 
across the country," explains an investigator. 
"Many of them have formed splinter groups in 
different areas of Pakistan and are operating 
independently."

             Despite a record number of arrests of 
militants during the past few months, senior 
police officials say this is only the tip of the 
iceberg. "Militants are now skilled operators. 
Each activist is assigned a particular task and 
he has no knowledge of the next link in the chain 
that would enable us to destroy a network from 
its roots," they maintain.

             Meanwhile the government, it seems, 
is sabotaging its own efforts to distance itself 
from its previous pro-jihad policy. In an 
astonishingly undiplomatic move, the federal 
minister for religious affairs, Ejazul Haq, 
attended the launch of a book titled "Christian 
terrorism and the Muslim world" in Islamabad, 
where he reportedly stated that anyone who did 
not believe in jihad was neither a Muslim nor a 
Pakistani and that, given the plight of the 
Muslims today, he was himself prepared to act as 
a human bomb. With spokesmen like these, little 
wonder that the government seems to be fumbling 
in the dark, ill-equipped to deal with the 
harvest of hate it has itself sown.



_____


[2]

The Daily Times [Pakistan]
June 16, 2004

JAC demonstrates against blasphemy law

Staff Report
LAHORE: The Joint Action Committee (JAC) for 
Peoples' Rights, an alliance of more than 33 
non-government organisations and civil society 
groups, staged a demonstration against the 
blasphemy law and Hudood Ordinances on Tuesday.
The demonstration was arranged on the death of 
Samuel Masih, a man accused of a blasphemy 
offence who was killed by a police constable in a 
Lahore hospital, and the death of Anjum Javed, a 
Christian who died after days of torture by the 
head of a Faisalabad madrassa.
The demonstrators displayed placards and banners 
demanding the immediate repeal of the Hudood 
Ordinances and blasphemy law.
"Women and minorities are the real victims of 
these laws, which are mostly used to settle 
scores," JAC Convener Shah Taj Qizilbash said.
Also on Tuesday, the Centre for Legal Aid, 
Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) arranged a 
conference to discuss the abuses of the law. The 
cases of Samuel Masih and Anjum Javed, besides 
other Christians killed for alleged blasphemy 
came up for discussion.
The CLAAS convener said the law was often used to 
settle personal vendettas and stifle political 
dissent.
Muslim Christian Federation International (MCFI) 
Chairman Qazi Abdul Qadeer Khamosh proposed a 
committee consisting of four Muslims and one 
Christian to review the authenticity of blasphemy 
cases before the victims are accused.
"Lawfully if the complainant is discovered to be 
filing a false blasphemy case he should also be 
given the same punishment," Mr Khamosh said.



_____


[3]

Praful Bidwai Column
June 14, 2004

Hardline Hindutva Or Rudderless Drift
The future of the BJP
by Praful Bidwai

Despite brave pretences, the Bharatiya Janata 
Party remains shell-shocked by its comprehensive, 
humiliating defeat in the Parliamentary 
elections. From a party which laid down the 
political agenda for more than a decade--that is, 
even before it came to power in New Delhi in 
1998--, the BJP suddenly finds itself on the 
margins of politics. Along with its NDA allies, 
it has been reduced to a shadow of its former 
self in major states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, 
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra, where it 
loomed large whether or not it was in power. In 
the Rajya Sabha, the NDA was slated to win a bare 
majority this summer on the assumption that it 
would hold firm in the states. That prospect has 
now receded. The BJP's allies have suffered more 
ignominiously, having been reduced to a third of 
their strength before April.

How does the BJP explain and come to terms with 
its rout? The short answer is, it does'nt. Its 
topmost leaders were stunned into graceless and 
undignified silence for a whole fortnight after 
the election results. When Mr L.K. Advani finally 
spoke to the press on May 31, his "explanation" 
was ludicrous: the BJP-NDA lost the mandate, but 
no other party/alliance won it. But no amount of 
jugglery with words, or spurious reasoning about 
regional variations, can negate the overarching 
truth that the NDA was trounced in 23 out of the 
28 states of India. Its rival, the United 
Progressive Alliance, enjoys the support of 
320-plus Lok Sabha MPs--a number the NDA couldn't 
dream of at the peak of its power.

Mr Advani's "explanation" is a non-starter, but 
he at least concedes that "India Shining" was 
overdone: the NDA's policies fell short of the 
voter's expectations. Mr Vajpayee, the BJP's 
tallest leader, isn't even prepared to concede 
that. He rules out either poor policies or the 
"Modi factor" (the impact of the Gujarat violence 
in numerous states) as the defeat's causes. He 
claims the BJP lost because "we were too 
complacent" and in places, "we didn't have a 
clear rival". Mr Vajpayee implicitly concedes 
that the BJP does well only when it campaigns 
negatively, by maligning its opponents, not 
because of its own positive appeal.

In truth, the BJP viciously attacked Ms Gandhi in 
a very personal way on the "foreign origins" 
issue. It missed no opportunity to hit other 
well-defined targets either. As for the "Modi 
factor", sober analysis shows the NDA lost 
millions of Muslim votes everywhere, its share in 
that total declining from 14 to 11 percent--or 
roughly half its share in the aggregate national 
vote. (By contrast, the Samajwadi Party bagged 15 
percent of Muslim votes, three times higher than 
its overall national share. The Congress and 
allies secured 52 percent of the Muslim vote.) As 
for "complacency", it's a question-begging term 
in the first place. Nobody can accuse the BJP of 
not having campaigned energetically, marshalling 
all its forces and huge sums of money, and ably 
"micro-managing" things.

The BJP leadership lacks the intellectual ability 
to grasp the quality and causes of the electoral 
defeat. But does it have the resources to devise 
a grand gameplan to stage a comeback? That too 
looks doubtful. Of course, the party is focusing 
on "tainted" Ministers. But that doesn't look too 
convincing given that its Messrs Advani and M.M. 
Joshi and Ms Uma Bharati had serious charges 
against them all these past six years, and that 
Mr George Fernandes was re-inducted into the 
Cabinet without being cleared by the Tehelka 
inquiry. The NDA apparently fielded 78 candidates 
with a criminal record in the latest elections. 
In any case, staging walkouts on such issues 
doesn't add up to a gameplan or strategy.

Under its unquestioned organisational boss (Mr 
Advani), the BJP will remain preoccupied with 
survival issues for months: how to set its house 
in order and keep the NDA going. The first task 
won't be easy, especially in the North (the 
entire Hindi belt excluding Madhya Pradesh, 
Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan), where the BJP's Lok 
Sabha tally has been reduced to just 25 seats out 
of a total of 180. In the crucial states of UP 
and Bihar-Jharkhand, it's down to a pathetic 15 
seats.

The BJP, unlike the RSS, isn't quite a cadre 
organisation. Non-cadre parties which get used to 
power find it difficult to keep their flock 
together when unseated. (Look at the Congress's 
state for the past 20 years). The problem is 
particularly grim in UP, where the BJP has fallen 
from 25 seats to just 10. It has no revival 
strategy. Its big guns--Kalyan Singh, Rajnath 
Singh, Vinay Katiyar, Lalji Tandon and Kalraj 
Mishra--have all failed. In most Northern states, 
it doesn't know which group to woo, barring the 
urban trader.

Even in the West-central states--MP, Chhattisgarh 
and Rajasthan--BJP voters may desert it as they 
sober up after the hangover from the last 
Assembly elections wears out. The Maharashtra 
Assembly elections are around the corner. The 
adrenaline of Central power has energised the 
Congress-NCP. Ms Sonia Gandhi's campaign will 
further boost the alliance. It would be a 
surprise if the Shiv Sena-BJP mounts a major 
challenge to it. In any case, the BJP must 
piggyback the Sena. It has failed to build a 
durable base anywhere in Maharashtra, except 
among numerically tiny late-urbanising 
upper-caste groups. Similarly, in Karnataka, it's 
not clear if the BJP can retain Lingayat support 
it recently received: its base has unsteadily 
fluctuated between the coastal North and South, 
and some old Mysore districts.

Within the NDA, the number of BJP allies is now 
down to 8, from 24 two years ago. Of these, only 
the Shiv Sena is an ideological ally. And at the 
national level, the only active ally is the 
JD(U), which has shrunk to a miserable 8 seats 
(down from 30 seats). The numerically largest 
ally, the BJP, doesn't have a national profile or 
agenda. The NDA's main cementing force has been 
Mr Vajpayee. Today, he isn't only taking a back 
seat; it's unclear (but unlikely) that he will 
lead the NDA into the next election. There is a 
distinct possibility that the AIADMK and TDP will 
quit the NDA. The TDP now finds the BJP's 
communalism a huge liability. And the BJP burnt 
its fingers by allying with Ms Jayalalithaa.

As if these travails weren't enough, the RSS-VHP 
are beginning to flex their muscles. They accuse 
the BJP of pussyfooting on Hindutva--for them, 
the primary cause for its election debacle. They 
want a tough line on the "trident" issues 
(Ayodhya, Art 370 and Uniform Civil Code). The 
BJP is divided on this. With the UPA government 
in power, the Ayodhya litigation is likely to be 
opened up, putting the BJP on the defensive and 
making difficult for it to oppose a negotiated 
settlement. The temple issue agitation might be 
left to the VHP. On Art 370, the BJP cannot both 
oppose it and support the peace process within 
Kashmir and with Pakistan--a Vajpayee 
"achievement", which it capitalises on. On the 
UCC, it'd be hard put today to drum up support. 
The national mood is different.

The litmus test for the BJP's strategic 
line-of-march and its relations with the RSS will 
come with the "Modi factor": Will the BJP sack Mr 
Narendra Modi in keeping with half of its Gujarat 
MLAs' demand? Or will it keep him despite the 
disgrace, infamy and adverse litigation he has 
brought upon the BJP? If it does the first, that 
will at least signal that it might, however 
reluctantly, move towards "moderation"; at least 
that possibility isn't closed despite Mr Advani's 
recent statement that the BJP's devotion to 
Hindutva is nothing "to be apologetic about". If 
it chooses the second option, the BJP will 
further harden its ideological stance and become 
more brazenly communal, like the Jana Sangh.

The first choice spells a certain political 
direction. The BJP will have to stop looking for 
cheap gimmicks and too-clever-by-half slogans. It 
will have to work hard to rebuild and expand its 
political base and provide a responsible 
policy-based opposition to the UPA. The second 
option too entails a definite trajectory, one of 
contraction and marginalisation. As Mr Advani has 
himself repeatedly said since 1980, a strongly 
ideological party cannot hope to come to power in 
a large, diverse and plural country like India 
(the last three adjectives aren't his). It can at 
best hope to operate as a pressure group, 
representing sectoral upper-caste interests. 
That's exactly what the Jana Sangh was. It used 
to command 20 to 30 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP 
might go that way. There are organisational signs 
too: all its five newly appointed general 
secretaries are upper-caste people.

Of course, there is a third option: the BJP could 
just drift rudderlessly, stirring up 
anti-democratic sentiments on issues like POTA 
and saffronised textbooks, but providing no 
effective opposition. Drift also means decline. 
We will soon know which option the BJP chooses. 
But none of them will be pleasant--unless the UPA 
makes a mess of things.
-end-

_____


[4]

The Hindu
June 16, 2004

ANTI-ENRON ACTIVIST DEAD
By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, JUNE 15. Financial analyst and a 
campaigner against the Dabhol power project in 
Maharashtra and the Sardar Sarovar Dam in 
Gujarat, Pradyumna Kaul, 50, died in Delhi 
yesterday.

A close associate of Medha Patkar and others of 
the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Kaul was a meticulous 
researcher and documenter. For years, he tracked 
the Dabhol power project in which the now defunct 
Enron Corporation was a principal player. Kaul 
questioned the financial arrangement between the 
Maharashtra Government and the multinational 
consortium headed by Enron and exposed the 
absence of transparency in the negotiations. He 
was an invaluable source not just to those 
campaigning against the Enron-backed power 
project but also to dozens of journalists writing 
on these issues.

A graduate of the Indian Institute of Management, 
Kolkata, Kaul analysed the economics of 
corporations such as the Dabhol Power 
Corporation(DPC). He was a national committee 
member of the Samajwadi Jan Parishad and active 
with the Enron Virodhi Manch and the Narmada 
Bachao Andolan. Most recently, he appeared before 
the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Committee 
and also the Justice S.P. Kurudkar Commission, 
which was looking into the DPC deal. Kaul wrote 
extensively on power sector reforms. He died 
after a holiday in Badrinath. The cremation took 
place on Tuesday.


_____


[5]

[Background News and Op-Ed. Material + Important 
letter etc. from India's LGBT activists 
accompanied by a review article by Tejal Shah 
about this homophobic film called Girlfriend]

BBC News, 14 June, 2004
'Girlfriend' causes India storm
By Jayshree Bajoria
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3805905.stm

The Telegraph, June 16, 2004
Two Women - Editorial
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040616/asp/opinion/story_3373843.asp

The Times of India, June 16, 2004
The XY-rated Film: Thought Police are Oxy-morons
Bachi Karkaria
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/741171.cms

see also the the URL for the official website on the film:
http://www.girlfriendthemovie.com/


- - - -  Forwarded Message - - - -

Subject: Girlfriend Protest
From: "Humjinsi Cluster" <humjinsi at hotmail.com>

Dear all,

   This is an urgent and serious matter. Tejal and Sheba saw the premier
of the film 'Girl Friend' yesterday. The film portrays Isha Koppikar as
a sexually abused, violent, obsessive, killer, psychopath lesbian. The
film claims to address the issue of 'lesbianism' but operates from a
totally homophobic, hetero- patriarchal viewpoint. It will do
unspeakable damage for the movement and simply put, it is downright
dangerous for those of us trying to survive in an already hateful world.
   The movie tears away the anonymity of lesbian existence; the word
lesbian is actually used in the film and the image created is a ghastly
and revolting one. The character is not a lesbian, she is a woman
hunter, a man hater, there are so many things in the film that are
absolutely despicable that one cannot even begin to describe them.

The absolute folly is that this movie is going to show in movie theatres
all across the country. So while the film capitalizes on the lesbian
angle (there is even a sleazy bedroom scene) the axe comes down so fast
and so hard on the lesbian (she dies a gruesome death, which is
obviously retribution) that there is not even a sliver of doubt. Women
who hate men become lesbians- who are bloodthirsty, abusive killer- who
finally bring on their own annihilation.

We have to take a stand and make a statement against this film and we
have to come up with strategies to make a strong protest. We urge all of
you to make time and suffer through the film this weekend so that we are
well aware of what we are up against.

Tejal has reviewed this film for MID-DAY. What she has to say and that
reflects how the rest of us feel as well, is written below. Do go
through it as well.

We urge everyone to come together. We will continue posting minutes of
every meeting and action taken.

In Solidarity,

Shruti, Tejal, Sheba, Aditi
Humjinsi

o o o o o


FROM THE FIRE INTO THE FRYING PAN

Dear Mr. Karan Razdan (director of Girlfriend),

This was supposed to be a film review. If the Shiva Sena and the Bajrang
Dal go on a rampage yet again, to protest your film 'Girlfriend', ask
for the film to be banned or sent back to the censor board, I might even
forgive you.

But I know, that six years after Deepa Mehta's film 'Fire' was released,
the right wing will see no reason to protest your film because your
portrayal of a lesbian as 'a psychopath' sexually abused, man hating,
murderer and killer’ fits just fine into their hetero-patriarchal agenda
of portraying lesbians & gays as freaks, abnormal and as people who must
die at the end of the film, so they are aptly punished for their
unnatural existence.

On the out set, it must be stated that the ''Lesbian' issue is a hot
topic; it attracts audiences, creates a curiosity and definitely impacts
the box office collections. I mean, if you were to tell me that you made
this film because you care so much about lesbians and the issues
affecting them, that you wanted to bring this issue into the public
realm, into every Indian household, surely you mean it as a
devastatingly, nasty joke!

Your film is a presentation of the worst possible misnomers (I
consciously refrain from using the word 'stereotype') about anyone who
may be attracted to a person of the same gender. The male, macho but
normal (read heterosexual) hero has no qualms about playing a
hyper-exaggerated, sissy, gay man when he needs to seduce the simple
minded, generous at heart, 'one-night' lesbian, but basically reformed,
heterosexual heroine, Amrita Arora. The straight heroine who is being
continuously misled by the lesbian villain must be saved by the
good-boy-hero. In the end, values of heterosexual love, marriage and
'normal' families must be upheld. The character of Tanya, acted by Isha
Koppikar is nothing short of a 'lesbian animal' aided as it is by the
background score to help us see her as a wild, almost cannibalistic
man-eating/man-hating woman who dares to behave like a man, a Sahela.
All this of course is explained by the simple truth that she was
sexually abused as a child simultaneously implying that what makes women
‘this way’ is possibly, abuse at the hands of men!

After watching a film like this, it is impossible for anyone to think of
'women who love women' as normal human beings with two hands and two
feet, who may be a friend, a sister, a mother, an aunt, a neighbour, a
grand mother and least of all a caring lover.

It must be pointed out that under the section 377 of the Indian Penal
Code, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are looked upon
as/considered criminals, existing against the order of nature. Hey! and
if you thought it was just about 'those guys & their lifestyles', let me
remind you that anytime you have non peno-viginal penetrative sex, you
are as much of a criminal and can be put in the prison for 7 years or
heavily fined or both.

Mr. Razdan, the next time you say that you are taking a neutral position
in this film and portraying the case of just one lesbian, let me remind
you precisely, that the fiction you are choosing is a cleverly developed
and thought out story that carries a clear message. This message is a
dangerous and retrogressive one. It is a message that endangers the life
of any woman who may look or behave boyish, any woman who chooses to
experiment with her sexuality, and any woman who asserts her right to
different choices, even those women who are good friends and hold hands
when they walk down the street.

Welcome to the world of blatant hate crimes based on your sexual and
gender orientation!

As men or women, homosexual or heterosexual, films like these take us
many steps backwards. More than two decades of work done by Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender groups, feminists groups, human rights
groups, women's groups and progressive artists groups, is going to
suffer as this film is commercially released in every part of India from
small towns to big cities.

Every time I hear of another lesbian suicide, another girl who hanged
herself for being teased about her 'best' friend, another hijra woman
raped in police custody, another woman sent for shock treatment and
aversion therapy to cure her of her homosexuality, another couple put
under house arrest by their parents when they find out about their
same-sex love, I will think of this film and I will be reminded of the
power that Bollywood wields in creating a mass consciousness of one sort
or the other. In this case, it will be a conscious, articulated, homophobia.

Thank-you very much Mr. Razdan, but we, as progressive citizens are not
interested in lip-service. I can assure you of one thing: the homosexual
community in this country would much rather live in quiet anonymity than
be mis-represented in such a ghastly, contorted fashion.  Even a little
bit of research on your part would have revealed that there are at least
three active lesbian and bisexual women's groups in Bombay city alone
and hundreds of 'women who love women' leading their lives openly and
happily but that's only possible when one makes a film on a hot issue
(like lesbianism is in India) when you foresee beyond profits and
publicity and see, real lives and real people who will live the
consequences of your doing.

It’s time that we stopped separating the issues that films address and
their impact on the audience/citizen within a given socio-political
context/environment. It is also high time that we stand in protest
against any film that causes damage to the rights of any minority group.

Tejal Shah
(The writer is a visual artist and the co-founder, organiser and curator
of Larzish - tremors of a revolution, International Film festival of
Sexuality & Gender Plurality, India since 2003)


_____


[6]

SECRET SWAMI.     BBC 2 . 17 June 2004. 21.00 hrs

On 7 April 2004, the International Humanist and 
Ethical Union raised at the UN Commission on 
Human Rights 60th session the issue of the Rights 
of Children and specifically the issue of Satya 
Sai Baba and the allegations of paedophilia 
against him. It may be recalled that two years 
ago the UN's Under Secretary General Shashi 
Tharoor wrote a misleading article in 
International Herald Tribune (3 Dec 2002) aimed 
at promoting Satya Sai Baba, without mentioning 
or referring to allegations of fraud, or exposes 
on television of his sleight of hand tricks, or 
reports of murders in his bedroom etc.

IHEU's raising the issue was the first time that 
the matter of Satya Sai Baba has been mentioned 
at the UN Human Rights Commission. It is high 
time other Human Rights organisations too take up 
the issue of Satya Sai Baba.

IHEU's President and main representative at the 
UN in Geneva said "... there is one particular 
case of child abuse that I wish to draw to the 
attention of the Commission. We are appalled by 
the widely reported allegations of systematic 
sexual molestation of minors against the highly 
successful and influential Indian god man Satya 
Sai Baba. These allegations led UNESCO in 2000 to 
withdraw from a proposed joint event with the 
Institute for Satya Sai Education (see UNESCO 
Media advisory below). Despite the matter being 
raised in the UK Parliament (early day motion 886 
by MP Tony Coleman), and despite the issuing by 
the US State Department of a Travel advisory in 
2001 (see US State Department Travel Advisory 
below), these disturbing allegations have not 
received the appropriate attention of the 
Government of India - which is a signatory to the 
Convention on the Rights of the Child and is 
obliged by its Article 34 to act. We are hopeful 
that international attention, scrutiny and 
pressure will lead to a full scale investigation 
into the activities of this so-called god man, 
and ensure the protection of all children who 
come into contact with him".

Humanists, Freethinkers and Skeptics like the 
late Abraham Kovoor, Dr. H. Narasimhaiah and B. 
Premanand are famous names which are associated 
with the attempts to expose Satya Sai Baba. 
Leader of the IHEU Member organisation Indian 
CSICOP, B. Premanand continues his valiant fight 
to expose the alleged criminality of the world's 
most famous god man, so that the due process of 
law could be applied and a proper investigation 
by the police carried out. An overview of Satya 
Sai Baba's life and the work of Humanists trying 
to expose him can be got by reading the 
undersigned's Sex Lies and Video Tape, Retelling 
the Satya Sai Story  at
URL: www.nhne.com/specialreports/srsaibaba.html#sex

AFTER THE DANISH TV DOCUMENTARY 'SEDUCED' now it 
is the BBC's turn to investigate into the life of 
the ailing Satya Sai Baba and make explosive 
revelations about his sexuality. The BBC says " 
... there are a number of former devotees who 
have turned away from his teachings, claiming he 
has ruined their lives. Alaya, a former follower 
who claims he was sexually abused by the swami, 
says in the programme: "I remember him saying, if 
you don't do what I say, your life will be filled 
with pain and suffering." In an intimate and 
powerful portrait, Alaya's family talks openly 
about how they feel they were betrayed. The 
documentary features Premanand and also former 
devotees like Glen Meloy.

"Back in India, there are serious questions to be 
asked of politicians, who seem to have 
continuously ignored the problem. Indeed, some 
would say, the correct position for these 
politicians appears to be at the feet of Sai 
Baba. He certainly has friends in high places, 
and throughout the scandal, his popularity has 
remained intact. Has this "God-man" been wrongly 
accused or does his status mean he is immune to 
criticism?"


Watch the Documentary. And ask why no action against him has yet been taken!

Babu Gogineni
babugogineni at hotmail.com

CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD Article 34 
States Parties undertake to protect the child 
from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual 
abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall 
in particular take all appropriate national, 
bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent:
(a) The inducement or coercion of a child to 
engage in any unlawful sexual activity;
(b) The exploitative use of children in 
prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices;
(c) The exploitative use of children in 
pornographic performances and materials.

UNESCO FINAL MEDIA ADVISORY FROM PARIS
URL: 
web.archive.org/web/20001017142401/http://www.unesco.org/education/highlights/media_advisory.htm
UNESCO WITHDRAWS FROM CONFERENCE (2000)
Paris, September 15 - UNESCO has decided it will 
no longer sponsor nor take part in a conference 
it had been due to co-organize with the Institute 
of Sathya Sai Education (ISSE, Thailand) and The 
Flinders University Institute of International 
Education (Australia), in Puttaparthi, India, 
from September 25 to 29. The decision means 
UNESCO is no longer associated in any way – 
through sponsorship, organization or 
participation of any kind – with the conference 
on Strengthening Values Education: Innovative 
Approaches to Teacher Education for Peace and 
International Understanding.
UNESCO’s withdrawal was prompted by several 
factors. Certain decisions were taken by the ISSE 
without consultation, such as plans to hold some 
of the sessions at the Ashram of the Sathya Sai 
movement in Puttaparthi, and the inclusion of 
some speakers in the conference programme without 
their previous consent. Furthermore, the 
Organization is deeply concerned about 
widely-reported allegations of sexual abuse 
involving youths and children that have been 
levelled at the leader of the movement in 
question, Sathya Sai Baba. Whilst it is not for 
UNESCO to pronounce itself in this regard, the 
Organization restates its firm moral and 
practical commitment to combating the sexual 
exploitation of children, in application of the 
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the 
Child, which requires States to protect children 
from all forms of sexual exploitation and 
violence.

US STATE DEPARTMENT TRAVEL ADVISORY
(US State Department's India - Consular 
Information Sheet, November 23, 2001 - 
http://travel.state.gov/india.html - (under 
Andhra Pradesh) which warns: “U.S. citizens 
traveling to or residing in Andhra Pradesh should 
also be aware that there have been media and 
other reports of inappropriate sexual behavior by 
a prominent local religious leader. Most of the 
reports indicate that the subjects of these 
approaches have been young male devotees, 
including a number of U.S. citizens. Although 
these reports are unconfirmed, U.S. citizens 
should be aware of this information)

SAI BABA AND SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN NO. 886
That this House, mindful of the many accounts and 
witness statements of the sexual abuse of the 
male children of devotees by the Indian guru, Sai 
Baba, calls upon the Foreign Secretary to use the 
Travel Advice for India page of the Foreign 
Office Website to issue guidance to British 
families intending to visit the Ashram of Sai 
Baba about the possible danger to their male 
children of individual audiences with the guru.
UK Parliament, 26.02.02 House of Commons


______



[7]


Indian Express
June 15, 2004

Two steps back in Lucknow
Banning some foreigners from the imambaras goes 
against the city's culture of tolerance
SEEMA ALAVI
		 		 
All over the world there has been condemnation of 
US-led attacks on Muslim holy sites in Iraq. One 
fully understands the emotions that make the 
Muslim interventions in the cacophony of 
worldwide protests distinct. For their non-Muslim 
allies the US attack is about violation of 
international diplomatic laws, human rights and 
erosion of UN authority. For Muslims it is that 
plus intense hurt over the damage to the Najaf 
and Karbala holy sites. Najaf and Karbala as the 
centres of Muslim identity have been immortalised 
by a range of Urdu poets including Allama Iqbal. 
Muslims could never shed their Islamic identity, 
he said, because they had the dust of Medina and 
Najaf in their eyes. Emanating from Najaf and 
Karbala this sense of the Muslim Self replicates 
itself annually through the re-enactment of 
martyrdom rituals associated with these sites and 
the replication of their monuments.

Lucknow has the privilege of housing two 18th 
century monuments that are replicas of the holy 
shrines in Najaf and Karbala. The big (Barra) 
Imambara and the small (Chotta) Imambara were 
built by the pre-colonial, Shia nawabi political 
class that owed its origin to Iran. Both emerged 
as emblems of the cultural syncretism and 
cosmopolitanism associated with Lucknow. Annual 
funeral rituals enacted here were attended by 
Muslims from as far as Baghdad and Damascus. 
Hindus too participated and the British revered 
the sites.

  Today these emblems of tolerance and peaceful 
co-existence are in the eye of a storm. Muslim 
clerics, incensed by the US-led attacks on Najaf 
and Karbala, have forbidden tourists from the US, 
Britain and Israel to enter these imambaras. This 
has prompted Britain to advise its citizens not 
to travel to Lucknow and the US is soon to follow 
suit. The extreme step of the clerics is 
unfortunate. The request to the clerics to lift 
this ban is not about tourism or economics. It is 
about upholding the city's spirit of tolerance. 
It is about finetuning protest to the facts of 
the case. And the facts are that some of the best 
histories of Lucknow have been penned by US and 
UK historians: Juan Cole's book on the history of 
the imambaras and Muharram celebrations; Chris 
Bayly's influential publications on Awadh culture 
and society; Rosie Llewyn Jones's descriptions of 
European-Indian interactions in nawabi Lucknow; 
American historians Mike Fisher and Richard 
Barnett's chronicling of the intricate relations 
between the Shia nawabs and the British in 
colonial Lucknow. The list is endless.

The ban affects such healthy intellectual 
interaction. Banning those people whose history 
has enveloped the best and most productive parts 
of their lives is hurtful to them and painful to 
all those who uphold the values of tolerance and 
freedom of intellectual and cultural interaction. 
The fight against US aggression can be won by 
striking alliances within these societies, not by 
alienating those sensitive to our histories and 
politics.

______



[8]


PRESS RELEASE

15 June 2004

Our life - your election
The Gujarat Carnage 2002 has been narrowed down 
from an issue of Crime Against Humanity to just a 
reason for winning or losing an election.

It is painful for Gujaratis like us to read Mr. 
Prafull Goradia’s letter in Timmes of India dated 
15 June 2004 which states that “[
] In December 
2002, well after the riots, the BJP won 126 
assembly seats out of 182, then the party went on 
to win three by elections. A year later, our 
party had near landslide victories in 
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.” 
Several other leaders within BJP have put forward 
similar arguments. Are Mr. Prafull Goradia and 
the others conveying to Mr. Vajpayee that the 
Gujarat Carnage 2002 was a successful experiment 
to win the election? It is also unfortunate even 
to listen Mr. Vajpayee who also narrows down the 
Gujarat Carnage 2002 as an issue of Crime Against 
Humanity to win or lose an election, and states 
that the violence in Gujarat could have been one 
of the reasons for the party’s defeat in the 
recent election. Both the trends inside the BJP 
are debating the violence in Gujarat as a reason 
for the defeat, or not, in recent election. So it 
is pretty clear that even Mr. Vajpayee also is 
not feeling sorry for the Gujarat Carnage which 
was a Crime Against the Humanity. Defeat of an 
election is his prime concern. It is also 
unfortunate that the media is not trying to 
expand the issue beyond the wining or losing of 
the election. It would have made sense if Mr. 
Vajpayee would have made an issue of Gujarat 
Carnage 2002 within BJP, with reference to the 
role of Government of Gujarat and the Chief 
Minister of Gujarat, by referring the NHRC 
report, various other reports by the Human Rights 
Groups, Feminist Groups and the recent Supreme 
Court Judgement in Best Bakery case.

Rohit Prajapati
Trupti Shah
Human Rights Activists of Gujarat

______


[9]

In Defence of Our Dreams

Docu-lecture series VCD format

"In Defence of Our Dreams" is an important 
resource material for training students, youth, 
activists, political workers and politicians on 
themes related to communalism.

The docu-lectures by eminent specialists are 
richly edited with archival footage. The CDs are 
in English.   The package contains the following:

Mridula Mukherjee               Legacy of the Freedom Movement
Mihir Desai                             Secularism as a constitutional Right
Pralay Kanungo                      History of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh
Harsh Mander                         Civil 
Society and State: Lessons  from Gujarat
SK Thorat,                                  Caste, Dalits and Fascism
Nivedita Menon                Gender – Issues, 
Movement & Interrelation with 
Communal Politics
Bipin Chandra                 The Urgency to Resist Fascist Forces
Rajdeep Sardesai                  Media: an Arena for Struggle
Rizwan Qaisar,                         Communalisation of Education and History
K.M. Shrimali                             Is Ayodhya Just a Physical Site
K.N. Panikkar                              Cultural Roots of Communalism
Ram Punyani                                 Facts & Myths
Sohail Hashmi                               Formation of Indian Identity
Digant Oza,                                  Gujarat before and after Carnage
Praful Bidwai        Communalism, Nationalist 
Chauvinism & India -Pakistan Hostility
Rakesh Sharma 
Final Solution-Documentary on Gujarat
Gauhar Raza      Zulmaton ke Daur Main/ Junoon ke Badhte Qadam
Saeed Mirza                                               Unheard Voices
Us Subha Ki Khatir 
Audio CD of movement songs ( tu zinda hai, 
woh  subah kabhi to ayegi, gar ho sake to ab koye 
shamma jalayee, mandir masjid, ham sab is jahan 
main and more)

A few experts, creative artists and individuals 
who aspire for a secular, democratic and 
harmonious Indian society dreamt of the present 
project. The lecture covering various aspects of 
communalism delivered by eminent intellectuals 
were converted into lively documentaries of about 
25-minute duration by Gauhar Raza.

Please send drafts to : Anhad, 4, Windsor Place, 
New Delhi-110001, tel-23327367/ 66
e-mail: anhad_delhi at yahoo.co.in
Rs. 1000/- at Anhad office, By Courier -Rs 1000/- 
+50 (courier charges for one set)  within India
For other countries you may write to us.

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

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/
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bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/

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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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