SACW | 22-26 June 2004
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Fri Jun 25 21:09:18 CDT 2004
South Asia Citizens Wire | 22-26 June, 2004
via: www.sacw.net
[1] Sri Lanka: Press Release by 'Tamil Rights'
[2] India: Myth and hate as history (B.G.Verghese)
[3] India: I Am A Terrorist : Come Shoot Me (Shabnam Hashmi)
[4] India: Patronising Secularism: Watching Dev
Through Muslim Eyes (Farah Naqvi)
[5] India - Gujarat: Protest Dharna Against Violation of Human Rights
[6] India: Torture and sexual assault by Police
personnel of Byappanahalli Police Station
(Bangalore) - Call for Protest
[7] Book Release announcement : 'At the Water's Edge by Pradeep Jeganathan'
[8] Book Announcement: 'The Languages of
Political Islam in India by Muzzafar Alam' and
'Against History, Against State:
Counterperspectives from the Margins by Shail
Mayaram'
--------------
[1]
[Received on: 24 June 2004 ]
www.tamil-rights.org
PRESS RELEASE
South Asian readers may not be fully aware of some of
the developments in Sri Lanka following the recent
split in the LTTE. The violent and authoritarian
nature of Sinhala nationalism is well-known, but there
has been increasing concern within the ranks of those
who support the rights of Tamil people to full
citizenship, about the violence shown by the LTTE
towards Tamil people of whom they claim to be the sole
representatives. The most disturbing issue currently
is that of forcible conscription of children into the
LTTE army.
During the past 3 weeks, LTTE (Wanni) has intensified
its efforts to re-recruit children (under 18 years)
who had been released by the LTTE (Karuna group), in
April this year, contrary to their repeated public
promises and pronouncements not to do so.
Reliable sources in the East report that parents in
villages around Kiran (Batticaloa District) have
received letters summoning them to meetings which were
addressed by Yatharthan, LTTE (Wanni) Area Leader,
Koralapattu, on June 20th and 21st. They were told to
bring their children and hand them over to the LTTE
(Wanni) Political Office in Thihiliwattai, on June
24th. These parents are terrified as they know that
their children will be used as cannon fodder by the
LTTE (Wanni) in their battles against the LTTE (Karuna
group). It is reported that the LTTE (Wanni) has
threatened to shoot parents who disobey these orders.
These parents have so far taken the initiative to
storm LTTE camps to reclaim their children and
fearfully yet stubbornly resisted previous orders by
the LTTE (Wanni) to hand over their children. A few
years ago, there were several suicides by parents in
the face of their helplessness in protecting their
children. It is thus imperative that we support these
parents, even at this late date, in resisting the
latest demands and threats of the LTTE (Wanni) which
goes against all international covenants and statutes
regarding the rights of children.
It is crucial that all international and local NGOs
working in Sri Lanka, and especially UNICEF which has
an agreement with the LTTE (Wanni), broaden their
focus from merely 'rehabilitating' these child
soldiers to addressing the much more threatening and
pressing reality of their re-recruitment.
We also appeal to all democratic-rights groups in Sri
Lanka and in South Asia generally, to take cognizance
of this as a serious and urgent matter. Already, some
individuals working with the parents have been
identified by the LTTE and they are in real danger of
being eliminated. We urge all democratic forces in
South Asia to raise this matter wherever possible,
both in their own countries and in international forums.
_____
[2]
The Hindu
June 23, 2004
MYTH AND HATE AS HISTORY
by B.G.Verghese
Maybe it is time to endeavour to produce a composite history of the
subcontinent as a common South Asian reader.
THE BOOKS children read, especially textbooks, and the images they imbibe
are the grammar of national identity, ideology and politics. Indian school
textbooks tended for quite some time to portray and uphold the values and
traditions of a plural, democratic society. The later emergence of
fundamentalist challenges eroded these values. Gujarat and the project to
rewrite textbooks in a bid to indoctrinate minds shook the nation and
provided a timely reminder that wars, riots and ideas of revenge begin in
the minds of men.
Fortunately, 2004 has witnessed a timely reversal and a return to the plural
ideal. While this is welcome, we must beware any swing of the pendulum that
enthrones rival dogmas and prejudice. Let children and grown-ups alike be
exposed to all points of view rather than to a single,
officially-ordained,sanitised truth.
Pakistan's experience has been even more tragic and traumatic. It has yet to
come to terms with its identity and rich plurality, shared history and
composite culture, all of which it needs to internalise. The "ideology of
Pakistan," to which it clings, has to be something more than the ruling
military-cum-religious-right credo of hate for the Indian/Hindu "other" that
informs textbook policy. This truly is the "core issue" Pakistan confronts
like its identical Indian Hindutva twin. Yet quite clearly there is life
beyond hatred.
Sensitive and thoughtful scholars on both sides have been acutely aware of
this cancer for some time. K.K. Aziz's Murder of History in Pakistan (1993)
and Rubina Saigol's Enemies Within and Enemies Without: The Besieged Self in
Pakistani Textbooks (2002) and Krishna Kumar's Prejudice and Pride (2001)
and The Delhi Historians' Communalisation of Education in India (2001) are
only some among the writings that reflect on this problem. More recently, an
agonised group of 30 Pakistani academics, assembled under the auspices of
the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad, has published a
compelling document entitled The Subtle Subversion: The State of Curricula
and Textbooks in Pakistan (2002-03) compiled by A.H. Nayyar and Ahmad Salim.
This critically examines current Social Studies, Civics, Urdu and English
textbooks for Classes I to XII officially published in fulfilment of
prescribed national objectives and directives. Monopoly Textbook Boards
function as "ideological gatekeepers" and patronise compliant authors.
After two decades of Pakistan, the rot set in with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and
intensified through Zia-ul-Haq's Islamisation era. President Pervez
Musharraf has inveighed against "sectarianism, religious intolerance and
violence", but the 2002 national curriculum review has apparently not
improved matters. Subtle Subversion notes "inventions, omissions and
distortions" to serve political and ideological ends that result in
falsification of history and even contemporary events. It speaks of
insensitivity to the nation's religious diversity; incitement to militancy
and violence; the encouragement of prejudice, bigotry and discrimination
towards fellow citizens, especially women, religious and ethnic minorities
and other nations; a glorification of war and the use of force.
Two quotations say it all. "The distortion of history has increasingly
warped Pakistan's view both of self and others for decades. Each generation
has twisted the facts it passes to the next. This has served to create a
particular worldview that is removed from reality and confounds efforts to
understand and properly resolve important social, national and international
problems." Secondly, "Four themes emerge most strongly as constituting the
bulk of the curricula and textbooks of the three compulsory subjects (Social
Studies/ Pakistan Studies, Urdu and English): That Pakistan is for Muslims
alone; that Islamiat is to be forcibly taught to all students... ; that
(the) Ideology of Pakistan is to be internalised as faith and hate (is) to
be created against Hindus and India; and students are to be urged to take
the path of jehad and shahadat (martyrdom)."
The term "Ideology of Pakistan," first enunciated in 1962, gained currency
under Zia. However it has been officially fathered on Mr. Jinnah, who
actually spoke of a liberal, pluralist Pakistan in his inaugural address to
the nation's Constituent Assembly in Karachi on August 11, 1947. The
imagined history of Pakistan, as officially taught, names Mohammad-bin-Qasim
as the "first citizen of Pakistan" and father of the Pakistan movement. M.D.
Zafar's Textbook of Pakistan Studies even affirms that "except for its name,
the present-day Pakistan has existed as a more or less single entity for
centuries." There is amnesia regarding the creation of Bangladesh and other
uncomfortable facts.
India's new Minister for Human Resource Development, Arjun Singh, has
initiated an NCERT textbook review. While this is overdue, a conference of
State Education Ministers should also examine the content of books being
taught in private schools that preach hatred or obscurantism. Maybe it is
time to endeavour to produce a composite history of the sub-continent as a
common South Asian reader. Could the Minister support such a non-official
project through the Indian Council of Historical Research acting in concert
with objective Pakistani and Bangladeshi historians?
Outside the classroom, news reports constitute the first draft of history.
Alas, propagandist reportage has reinforced stereotypes, transmuting myth
into "truth." In Pakistan, national myth has long replaced hard facts and
ground realities in Jammu and Kashmir. Such distortions of contemporary
history pose another danger. And that is another story.
_____
[3]
Hindustan Times
June 23, 2004
I AM A TERRORIST : COME SHOOT ME
by Shabnam Hashmi
In coming calls from Pakistan, Dubai, Gujarat.
Gujarat ? Yes from Godhra, Dahod, Kalol,
Sabarkantha, Banaskantha, Himmat Nagar, Surat,
Ahmedabad, Vadodara. Ninety percent Gujarat calls
by Muslims! This number belongs to S.., the son
of the accused in Godhra case, and this one is of
L.., her mother was very active with so and so in
the camp, also has to be an accused. This call
was received at midnight, this at 2am. Three days
ago a call came from US at 5am, it was a Muslim
calling. Last week an outgoing call to Karachi at
11pm and today three calls to Kashmir.
We are constantly watching the e-mails,
intercepting them. This one has come from a
Muslim organisation from USA. This one is
demanding prosecution for Modi. Here it is making
fun of Advani and Vajpayee. This one is abusing
VHP and Togadia. This is some charter of demands
on Gujarat. Asking for repealing of POTA?
The bookshelf, there are more than 200 books in
Urdu, loads of handwritten papers in Urdu, even
the computer has the Urdu font, this looks like a
book, Urdu poems, no must be some secret behind
that, an assassination plot written in verse.
There are books in Gujarati. Text books from
Gujarat. Hitler’s name is underlined in this
book. Didn’t the e-mail say Modi is like Hitler.
Do you see the connection? There is a folder
full of articles on RSS . E-mails from
Afghanistan.
And what is this. My God hundreds of tapes and
CDs- there is footage of Gujarat riots, there are
hundreds of photographs, photographs of S-6,
Sabarmati, taken from every angle. What is this
footage? Mass graves? How could anyone get this?
Who could have shot, there was hardly anyone from
outside at that point? Has to be an ISI
conspiracy to malign Modi.
My dear friend, remember I called you two days
ago and I said I have the information that before
the so-called ‘encounter’ on June 15, the
‘terrorist’ were interrogated in the crime cell
of the Police Commissioner’s office in Surat. You
gave me a long list of ‘police’ proofs of their
having links with some terrorist organisation.
I request you friend, please kill me. I am a
Terrorist too. Please organise an encounter. It
will take you 5 minutes to prove that I was a
terrorist. I will fit into the latest design, an
educated woman, from middle class, mother of two,
scientist’s wife, connection with terrorists!
Sells well, doesn’t it? Please go ahead.
Here is the proof. I am making your life easier.
You won’t have to ask your local reporter to go
to the local police for information. Also you
will have one person less pointing out to you
that your reporting is biased.
Yes, my mobile works 24 hours. Yes, I talk to
Muslims from every corner of the world including
Pakistan, Dubai, Gujarat. Yes, families of the
so-called accused, who are arrested under POTA in
Godhra , call me. They call me at 5 am and they
call me at 2am. I receive calls from different
parts of Gujarat, from all corners of the world
throughout the night.
My house is full of Urdu books, I have loads of
Gujarat footage. I abuse Modi, Advani and
Vajpayee in my mails. I accuse Modi for Genocide,
I talk to people to try him for that. I carry
thousands of papers with me about the Godhra
case. I have maps of every corner of not only
Gujarat but other states too. My visiting cards,
my e-mail id, my mobile number is with hundreds
of people in Gujarat.
I even went to Pakistan a few months ago. I have
friends in Dubai. Some of my articles were even
picked up by Pakistani papers like Jang. I leave
home early, sometimes even at 4 and return at all
odd hours. For days I come back well past
midnight. I got o Nizamuddin Basti, isn’t it a
basti full of maulavis. The place from where I
buy kababs, has to be a joint for exchanging
notes.
I, like all modern terrorists on a mission,
always carry my identification card, so that the
police can recover it after shooting me. Just
give me time to buy a new pair of shoes, mine are
broken.
What more proof you need to call me a terrorist?
Come, shoot me.
I will make a good story.
_____
[4]
The Times of India
25 June 2004
PATRONISING SECULARISM: WATCHING DEV THROUGH MUSLIM EYES
by Farah Naqvi
Hamlavar ban kar aaye the, badshah ban kar raaj kiya ab gaddar ban kar aish
karna chahte hain (they came here as invaders, ruled like kings, and now
want to have a good time as traitors), declares Om Puri, 'the bad cop' in
Dev about Muslims. As my (Muslim) friend and I cringe in the darkness of the
cinema hall in Ahmedabad, the titter of laughter which greets this grotesque
description hits us. It's the way people laugh at an inside joke. 'We' are
on the outside. Nothing has changed in Gujarat.
The lines are sharply drawn. And so, we watch the rest of the film, feeling
very much like two 'Muslims', surrounded by a sea of tittering 'Hindus'
whose first instinct — sympathise with the paranoid Muslim-hater Om Puri —
is only gradually won over by the secular moral narrative of the Hindu hero
Dev (played by Amitabh Bachchan). But even this is a sad, compromised
victory. For what Dev peddles is 'soft' secularism, the preferred parivar
version of Gujarat 2002.
Dev is about Gujarat. Make no mistake about it. Ignore Govind Nihalani's
protests that his film is 'really' about Mumbai, Meerut, Bhiwadi and every
other riot in the country. (That the location of the film is Mumbai rather
than Gujarat is a matter of irrelevant detail.)
The 'meaning' of a film is determined by its context, by how its audiences
choose to 'read' it. Certainly in Gujarat, perhaps elsewhere too, Dev is
being 'read' as the film version of the events of February-March 2002. And
to those events Nihalani has done a grave injustice. For those events were
not a riot, by any stretch of the imagination. They were a one-sided
massacre. And Muslims were a cowering herd, not a violent mob. Yet, Dev has
scenes of Muslim mobs retaliating, daring to torch Hindu shops (an
acceptable version of events — communal violence as a clash between two
'equal' enemies). Far worse, Nihalani reinforces the action-reaction
justification for the carnage. (The burning of the Sabarmati coach at Godhra
and the killing of the kar sevaks is here substituted by a motorcycle bomb
which kills devotees at a Ganesh temple.)
While the true facts of Godhra remain a mystery (which we hope our new and
esteemed railway minister will soon unravel), Nihalani does not engage with
such bothersome detail. In his version, an evil Muslim don is responsible
for the bomb blast which begins the cycle of revenge-massacre of Muslims.
It's all justified. The final approval comes from the mouth of Dev himself,
the moral exemplar, the police officer with a conscience who embodies the
secular spirit of 'Indian (Hindu) nation'. When Farhan, an angry young
Muslim played by Fardeen Khan, tells Dev to stop offering sympathy when the
latter's hands are tainted with the blood of Muslims, a furious Dev reminds
his misguided Muslim friend of the Ganesh temple bomb blast, par is saare
fasad ki jad kya thi ? (What started it all?) Tab kiske haath khoon se range
the?" (Whose hands were tainted with blood then?) he asks.
The audience hums in approval. Farhan is silenced. Godhra as the cause for
Gujarat 2002 (the fasad ki jad ) is upheld. Dev invokes the 'liberal'
sentiment: "It was truly terrible to kill so many Muslims, but really that
burning at Godhra was so grizzly and somehow 'they' always seem to start it
all..." Not only are Muslims blamed for the carnage, they are responsible
for catalysing pretty much anything bad which happens in the film. Even when
Muslims refuse to lodge FIRs despite being raped and pillaged, the fault
lies with one of them — the Muslim don-leader has instructed them not to.
(Anyone who has stood in Gujarat's police stations and watched a hostile
police blatantly refuse to lodge any complaints from Muslim survivors will
fume at Nihalani's storyline).
At another level, Dev is a narrative about an Indian nation whose salvation
lies in soft, patronising secularism. The upright police officer mouths
platitudes about the samvidhan or Constitution. He will not violate the
samvidhan at the behest of the wicked CM, he declares time and again, with
portraits of Gandhi-Nehru prominent in the backdrop. It would be fine if
things stopped here. But his secularism is made greater, its generosity even
more generous, because he has ample reason not to worry too much about the
samvidhan . Dev lost his young son to a terrorist's bullets. (The religious
affiliation of the terrorist is never specified. Nihalani leaves it to our
imagination.) In this, Dev is India, a nation wounded by Muslim terrorists.
Yet, Dev is magnanimous enough to embrace all religions in his secular
person. Secularism, the narrative seems to suggest, is not a matter of right
but of patronage by a large-hearted and forgiving nation-state. Indeed, so
great and inclusive is this secularism, that Dev even begins to see Farhan
as his dead son, wooing him away from the influence of Muslim don Latif.
Finally, Farhan sees the truth. Only in accepting the moral leadership of
Dev, the high secular Hindu, can the Muslim community get justice and
salvation. Farhan (read as legitimate Muslim anger) is neutralised. Long
live secularism.
Dev is insidious. It takes one of the most brutal communal carnages in
modern India, and seeks to resolve its dilemmas by resorting to stereotyped
image-making about Muslims, distorting the events of Gujarat, and peddling a
watered-down, patronising version of the secular principle. At best, it's
another offensive film but one whose secularism will appeal to far too many
people.
______
[5]
Rights activists demand POTA repeal
Ahmedabad, June 25 (IANS) :
Rights activists held a demonstration here Friday
demanding the withdrawal of the Prevention of
Terrorism Act (POTA).
The 100-odd activists gathered under the banner
of Gujarat Jan Andolan, or Gujarat Mass Movement,
demanded that POTA be revoked with retrospective
effect.
"We demand the withdrawal of POTA with
retrospective effect, since it is the question of
250 individual's rights," said activist Hiren
Gandhi.
Gandhi was referring to the arrest of 250 people,
mostly Muslims, who have been booked under POTA.
Wilfred D'Costa alleged that the use of POTA was
being "actually used in spreading terror among
the common people".
"If POTA is not removed with retrospective
effect, we will go to New Delhi and press for its
removal," he said.
Apart from revoking POTA, the activists demanded
withdrawal of the electricity tariff hike for
farmers, safety of social activists and removal
of contract labour system.
o o o
[See text from Jan Andolan -calling for protest ]
Gujarat Janandolan
CALLS UPON ALL DEMOCRATIC MINDED PEOPLE TO JOIN THE
PROTEST DHARNA AGAINST VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
AND RIGHTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE
ON 25TH JUNE 2004 AT 5.30PM
IN FRONT OF TOWN HALL AHMEDABAD
GUJARAT JANANDOLAN, JAMIATE-ULEMA-HIND, ANHAD,
NEW SOCIALIST MOVEMENT, GUJARAT FEDERATION OF
TRADE UNIONS AND SCORES OF OTHER CIVIL RIGHT and
TRADE UNION ORGANISATIONS have decided to hold a
massive protest Dharna on 25th June, 2004,
between 5.30pm to 7.30pm, in front of the Town
Hall at Ahmedabad, against the violation of Human
rights and the rights of the working people and
farmers in Gujarat.
The JANANDOLAN was of the view that the
continuing victimisation of the minorities under
POTA, the progressive contractorisation of the
workers, the attack on the rights of the farmers
and hefty increase of the farm inputs, the recent
attacks on the social activists and the attempt
to impound the passport of a social activist,
Father Cedric Prakash - are the growing
undemocratic tendencies that require to be
resisted at all cost. The growing cases of
“encounter” in Gujarat also raised serious doubts
about genuineness of the police actions and an
impartial investigation by CBI was absolutely
necessary to put to rest the doubts in such
serious issues of national security.
The JANANDOLAN and its allies have also decided
that in case the Central Government fails to
repeal the POTA retrospectively, a delegation
would be sent to Delhi for appropriate
representation. JANANDOLAN was of the view that
POTA does not in any manner prevent terrorism but
is a law that is used against innocent people all
over India for political purpose. POTA must
therefore be repealed.
The Khedut Sangharsh Samiti has also decided to support and join the Dharna.
Published by JANANDOLAN from, 104 Maharanapratap
Complex, opposite Ellis bridge P.O, Ahmedabad-
380006.
______
[6]
TORTURE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT BY POLICE PERSONNEL OF
BYAPPANAHALLI POLICE STATION (BANGALORE) OF KOKILA
Dear friend(s)
We are writing from SANGAMA (www.sangama.org), a
sexuality minorities' rights organisation in
Bangalore, India.
Kokila, a 21 year old hijra (member of a
traditional male-to-female transsexual community
in South Asia), has been living in Bangalore City
for the last 5 years. She survives by doing
sex-work, the only option available to most
hijras.
On 18th June, 2004 (Friday), around 8 p.m., while
she was waiting for clients, she was raped by 10
goondas (all male) who forcefully took her to the
grounds next to Old Madras Road. They threatened
to kill her if she wouldn't have sex with them.
She was forced to have oral and anal sex with all
of them. While she was being sexually assaulted,
two policemen arrived. Most of the goondas ran
away from the scene but two were caught by the
policemen. Kokila told the policemen about the
sexual assault by the goondas. Instead of
registering a case against the goondas and
sending Kokila for medical examination, they
abused her using filthy language and took her
along with the two captured goondas to the
Byappanahalli Police Station. They didn't even
allow Kokila to pickup her trousers from the
ground and she was forced to be naked for the
next 7 hours.
In the Police Station Kokila was subjected to
brutal torture. They took her to a room inside
the Police Station, stripped her naked and
handcuffed her hands to a window. There were six
policemen in that room. All of the policemen were
under the influence of alcohol. Many of them hit
her with lathis and their hands, and kicked her
with their boots. They abused her using sexually
violent language. The verbal abuses include:
ninna ammane keyya (we will fuck your mother),
ninna akkane keyya (we will fuck your sister),
khoja (derogatory word used against transgenders)
and gandu (one who gets penetrated anally, a
derogatory word). She was assaulted brutally by
policemen and suffered severe injuries on her
hands, palms, buttocks, shoulder and legs. They
also tortured her sexually by burning her nipples
and chapdi (vaginal portion of hijras) with a
burning coir rope. One policeman of the rank of
SI (Sub Inspector of Police) positioned his rifle
on her chapdi and threatened to shoot her. He
also tried push the rifle butt and lathi into the
chapdi and saying, "Do you have a vagina, can
this go inside?" while other policemen were
laughing. This is to humiliate a transsexual
woman by insisting that she is not a woman as she
was not born with a vagina.
At around 11 p.m. PI (Inspector of Police,
highest ranking Police Official of that Police
Station) arrived into the room. He directed the
policemen to continue the torture. The torture
continued till 1 a.m. in the night. Despite
begging for water she was not given any water.
The police tied her up and the Inspector of
Police threatened to leave her on the railway
track unless she confessed to the knowledge of
the robbery of a diamond ring and a bracelet.
They paid no attention to her pleading that she
had no knowledge of the robbery, or the person
they were trying to get to implicate in the
robbery.
At 1 a.m., four policemen (including PI and SI)
dragged Kokila into a police jeep and took her to
a hamam (bathhouse run by hijras) in
Krishnarajapuram area. They physically abused her
and forced her to knock on the hamam door and
call the hijras living there to open the door. At
around 2 a.m., they took her to another hamam in
Garudacharapalya area. They broke open the lock
of that hamam. They forced her to wear male
clothes (shirt and trouser). They tied a towel to
her head and threatened to shave off her hair.
Police also searched both the hamams illegally.
At around 3 a.m., while on the way, Kokila begged
the Police to take her to the house of Chandini
(a hijra human rights activist) who lived nearby.
The police entered Chandini's house forcefully
and searched the entire house despite severe
protests by Chandini. Chandini told the policemen
that they cannot enter her house at such hours
and without any valid reason and her consent.
When she protested, the police threatened her and
her husband with dire consequences. Finally, on
Chandani's demand that Kokila be left behind, and
her assurance that she would bring Kokila to the
Police Station in the morning if her presence was
required, the police left her residence at 3.30
am.
Kokila's complaint was registered in Ulsoor
Police Station on 19th June 2004. The complaint
was registered only after legal intervention and
after putting a lots of pressure on various
high-ranking Police Officials of Bangalore City
for three hours. The IPC (Indian Penal Code)
Sections in the FIR (First Information Report)
are 506 (criminal intimidation - threat to cause
death or grievous hurt), 377 (unnatural sexual
intercourse), 504 (intentional insult with intent
to provoke breach of peace), 324 (voluntarily
causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and
34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance
of common intention). Kokila has already
identified four policemen who tortured her. She
has also identified five goondas, who sexually
assaulted her.
These are not stray incidents but are part of
ongoing police violence against hijras. The level
of violence has increased after hijras, other
sexuality minorities and sex-workers started
protesting against police brutality.
On 21st June, 2004 a meeting was held to discuss
this issue, where more than 85 social activists
from various organizations working for sexuality
minorities/sex workers/women's/dalit/slum
dwellers/human rights and trade unions
participated. The organizations include:
Alternative Law Forum, Dalit Christian
Federation, DISC, Garment Workers Union,
Jagruthi, People's Democratic Forum, Samraksha,
Sanchaya Nele, Sangama, SICHREM, Social Action
Committee, Stri Jagruthi Samithi, Swathi Mahila
Sangha, Vimochana and Vividha. The following
demands were made at the meeting:
1. Byappanahalli Police personnel (including
Ashwat Narayana - PI, Krishanappa - SI,
Ramakrishna - Constable and Roshan Ali Khan -
Constable) involved in torture immediately be
arrested and sent to judicial custody
2. Byappanahalli Police personnel should be
charged for offenses under IPC Sections 330
(voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession or
to compel restoration of property), 342 (wrongful
confinement), 348 (wrongful confinement to extort
confession, or compel restoration of property),
456 (lurking house trespass or house breaking by
night) and 461 (dishonestly breaking open
receptacle containing property) read with IPC 34
3. CBI should conduct an impartial enquiry in to the incidents
4. Hijras should be declared as women
5. Repeal Section 377 of the IPC and ITPA
[Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act], which
criminalize sexuality minorities and sex-workers
respectively
It was decided to go on
indefinite-relay-hunger-strike from 23rd June,
2004 to press for the above mentioned demands.
The indefinite-relay-hunger-strike will be
carried on in front of Gandhi Statue on MG Road
near Cubbon Park. We request all of you to join
in solidarity against this gross violation of the
basic rights of people by the police. We also
request you to send letters of protest against
the incidence and the police brutality against
hijras to 1. Chief Minister of Karnataka, 2.
Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission,
3. Chairperson of National Commission for Women,
4. Director general and Inspector General of
Police, Karnataka and 5. Commissioner of Police,
Bangalore City. Please send a copy to Sangama. A
model protest letter is given below.
in Solidarity
Elavarthi Manohar
On behalf of SANGAMA
Our Contact Details:
Mobile: 91 9844013413, Phone: 91 80 22868080/22868121, Fax: 91 80 22868161
Email: sangama at sangama.org, sangama at vsnl.net
Address: SANGAMA, Flat 13, 3rd Floor, 'Royal
Park' Apartments, 34 Park Road, Tasker Town,
Bangalore - 560051, India.
- - - - - - - -
Protest Letter
To
Mr. Dharam Singh, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Karnataka
Justice A. S. Anand, Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission
Dr. Poornima Advani, Chairperson of National Commission for Women
Shri T. Madiyal, Director General and
Inspector General of Police, Karnataka
Shri S. Mariswamy, Commissioner of Police, Bangalore City
Dear Madam/Sir
We are shocked to hear of the brutal torture
suffered by Kokila, a Hijra, on 18th June, 2004,
at the hands of policemen of Byappanahalli Police
Station, Bangalore, India. The police took her
into custody when she was being raped that night
by ten goondas near Old Madras Road. Instead of
providing support and relief to her, they carried
on the brutal assault at the Police Station.
This is not a stray incident but is part of
ongoing police violence against hijras. The level
of violence has increased after hijras and other
sexuality minorities started protesting against
police brutality. The police are used to treating
hijras as outcasts with no rights. The police
think that no hijra would dare to stand up to
them. Police routinely use hijras by falsely
implicating them in crimes. The vicious anger
with which the police have reacted to the hijras
protesting against their torture is frightening.
We demand that the policemen implicated, Ashwat
Narayana (PI), Krishanappa (SI), Ramakrishna
(Constable) and Roshan Ali Khan (Constable) be
immediately arrested and sent to judicial
custody. We also demand an impartial CBI (Central
Bureau of Investigation) enquiry into the whole
incidence. Only such strong measures will send
the message down that human rights violations
will not be tolerated any longer.
We reiterate that notions of different rights for
different sets of people, and discrimination by
the police against hijras and various other
minority groups/communities can have no place in
a civilized democracy that India claim to be.
Sincerely
- - - - - - - -
Send the emails TO: cm at kar.nic.in,
chairnhrc at nic.in, member_secretary at ncw-india.org,
dgpks at bgl.vsnl.net.in, copblore at rediffmail.com
CC: sangama at sangama.org
______
[7]
The International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo
launches
At the Water's Edge
by
Pradeep Jeganathan
(Collection of Short Stories of Contemporary Sri Lankan Experience)
at the
ICES Auditorium, 2, Kynsey Terrace, Colombo 8 [Sri Lanka]
Friday, June 25, 2004 at 5:30 p.m.
All are Welcome
______
[8]
Muzaffar Alam
The Languages of Political Islam in India
c. 1200-1800
Hardback / 255pp / ISBN 81-7824-062-9 / Rs 575 / South Asia rights
Foreign rights bought from Permanent Black by
CHICAGO UNIVERSITY PRESS, USA, and HURST & CO, UK
This book shows the ways in which political
Islam, from its establishment in medieval north
India, adapted itself to a variety of Indian
contexts and became deeply Indianized.
This process, by which pre-existent Arabo-Persian
traditions were moulded to new Indian contexts,
involved changes in the manner in which Islamic
rule was conceived and conducted in the
subcontinent. It became gradually apparent to the
conquering Muslim sultans (and later to their
successors, the Mughals), as well as to medieval
thinkers and writers of treatises on Islamic
morality, theology and political doctrine, that
the conduct of Islamic statecraft in a country
comprising mostly Hindus entailed shifts in
Islam's conceptual and institutional vocabulary.
Islamic rulers could not command a vast country
without accepting certain cultural limitations to
the exercise of their power. In this process of
acculturation, political Islam in India was
forced to reinvent itself as a doctrine of rule.
>From this stemmed a second change: a shift in
>the meanings of key Islamic terms, especially
>those pertaining to statehood, and relations
>between rulers and subject populations. Through
>a close reading of a variety of texts-ranging
>from normative treatises and Sufi biographies to
>Persian court poetry-Muzaffar Alam shows that
>the vocabularies in use went through certain
>changes so fundamental that the language of
>Indian Islam became quite different from what
>was in vogue in contexts outside.
With its profound deployment of primary and
secondary sources to study Indo-Muslim statecraft
vis-à-vis Islamic theocratic languages over an
eight-hundred-year stretch, this book provides
major insights into the changing nature of
political Islam in India. It will interest
scholars of the Islamic world, as well as all
serious readers of Indian history and comparative
politics.
Muzaffar Alam is Professor in the departments of
South Asian Languages and Civilizations, and
History, at the University of Chicago. Earlier,
he was Professor of History, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi. His works include The
Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India, 1707-1748.
2
Shail Mayaram
Against History, Against State
Counterperspectives from the Margins
Hardback / 320pp + 12pp pictures / ISBN
81-7824-096-3 / Rs 695 / South Asia rights
Foreign rights with COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
"Š[Mayaram's] book represents the voice of a
people not otherwise visible in the written
record. Her greatest achievement is constructing
a subjective history of the State Š Mayaram's
careful, inventive, and meticulous scholarship is
impressive."-Susanne Rudolph, University of
Chicago
"Š a significant contribution to studies of
subaltern dissent."-Gananath Obeyesekere,
Princeton University
This important new book will interest historians,
anthropologists, sociologists, political
scientists, and all students of the complex
relationships between Hinduism, Islam, and the
Indian state.
Reassessing conventional South Asian
historiography from a subaltern perspective,
Against History, Against State examines how
conceptions of history and memory clash.
For nearly a millennium, the Meos of north
India-one of the largest Muslim populations in
South Asia-endured a succession of brutally
oppressive regimes, from the Arab conquest in the
eighth century through to the establishment of
the Turkish sultanate, the Mughal empire, the
regional Rajput kingdoms, and the era of British
imperialism. Unwilling to abandon their ethnic
and religious identity, the Meos developed an
independent oral tradition that enabled them to
challenge state formation for centuries.
By creating an alternative record of their past
through songs and stories, the Meos were able to
successfully retain a degree of cultural
sovereignty. But their quest for autonomy was
stigmatized, even criminalized, while
histories-written by the literate, ruling
elite-transformed ethnic prejudice into
historical fact.
This pioneering study, based on a decade of
intensive research, explores the Meo community
through their oral tradition, revealing
sophisticated modes of collective memory and
self-governance. Against History, Against State
reveals the remarkable complexity and resilience
of a transgressive culture that has survived on
the margins of Hinduism and Islam.
Shail Mayaram is Visiting Senior Fellow at the
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in
Delhi. She is the author of Resisting Regimes:
Myth, Memory, and the Shaping of a Muslim
Identity and co-author of Creating a Nationality:
The Ramjanambhumi Movement and the Fear of Self.
She is a member of the Subaltern Studies
editorial collective.
[Published by]
PERMANENT BLACK <perblack at vsnl.com>
D-28 Oxford Apartments,
11, I.P. Extension, Delhi 110092. [India]
Phones: (011)-2272-1494 / (0)-98184-03242
website: www.orientlongman.com
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
The complete SACW archive is available at:
bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/
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