SACW #1 | 30 Jun - 1 Jul 2004
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Wed Jun 30 21:44:11 CDT 2004
South Asia Citizens Wire - Dispatch #1 | 30 June - 1 July, 2004
via: www.sacw.net
[1] Bangladesh: How dare the recalcitrant mullahs
offer their fatwa against three very bright
professors of DU? (A.H. Jaffor Ullah)
[2] Teesta Setalvad chosen for Human Rights award
[3] Speeding The Indo-Pak Peace Process - Nuclear
CBMs aren't enough (Praful Bidwa)i
[4] An Encounter - Fake or Real ? (N.D.Pancholi)
Resources: New Books / Upcoming events
[5] India - Gujarat: Anhad, Prashant, Pratham ,
Darpana and Youth for Peace a day of direct mass
contact for communal harmony (Ahmedabad, July 1,
2004)
[6] Social Scientist, / Sahmat Convention on
'India: An Economic Agenda for 2004' (New Delhi,
July 5)
[7] Book Excerpts: 'A to Z of Jihadi
Organizations in Pakistan By Muhammad Amir Rana'
[8] Book Blurb: 'Healing Streams: Bringing Hope
in the Aftermath of Violence By Sushobha Barve'
[9] Film Screening and Discussion: Kashmir- What
Does The Future Hold (London, 6 July)
--------------
[1]
[Posted on the 'mukto-mona' list
Date: Wed Jun 30, 2004 5:24 am
Subject: Recalcitrant mullahs and their fatwa against 3 DU professors
How dare the recalcitrant mullahs offer their
fatwa against three very bright professors of DU?
By A.H. Jaffor Ullah
Things are for sure out of kilter in Bangladesh.
Or else, how dare a bunch of obscure kathmullahs,
muftis, and "practitioners of Islam" offer their
fatwa against three very bright professors of
Dhaka University? It is an insult to every
sensible citizens of this impoverished nation of
140 million. The good sense has taken the back
seat, undoubtedly.
The Internet was abuzz on June 29, 2004, when a
barrage of e-mails crisscrossed the globe to
reach many of us while bringing the ominous
news. Many a newspaper in Bangladesh printed the
news of the sensational fatwa in the front page
to emphasize the gravity of the situation.
One leading English news daily from Dhaka blurted
out, "Islamist zealots have issued death sentence
to three noted professors of Dhaka University
(DU) accusing them of running anti-Islamic
propaganda in the country."
The three senior professors against whom the
fatwa of death was announced are: Prof Muntasir
Mamun of history department, Prof Humayun Azad of
Bangla department and Prof MM Akash of economics
department. I personally met Prof. M.M. Akash
during 1998-99 when he visited the University of
New Orleans. Once I told him about the danger
that is lurking ahead due to rife Islamization of
Bangladesh. Professor Akash was least perturbed
by all this baneful development. He reasoned as
follows, "The Jamaat hardly gets any vote; people
don't trust them." I was adamant as I told him,
"You wait and see what is in store for
Bangladesh." After receiving this pernicious
fatwa Professor Akash will have his second
thought, I recon.
A confederacy of Islamic dunces comprising of
Maulana Zakaria, Maulana Ekaedullah, Maulana
Keramat Ali, Maulana Abdul Jabbar, Mufti Saleh
Ahmed and Maulana Mufti Kudrat-e-Elahi gave the
fatwa in a meeting that supposedly took place in
DU's Arts Building at 10:00 am on June 26, 2004.
A day later, a group claiming to be comprised of
The Nastik Murtaad Resistance Committee and
Muslim Millat Sha'riah Council started sending
faxed message to various newspapers publicizing
the fatwa. They wrote, "If the three professors
don't redeem themselves by September this year,
they will be killed."
All people should take this death threat very
seriously. The government should have reacted
instantaneously by condemning the fatwa against
the three professors. But three days have passed
by and we are yet to see any reaction from the
government. What does this mean? It has not
escaped anyone's attention that whatever the
Islamists in Bangladesh do, the government
remains reticent for quite a while. When the
donor nations break the silence and ask the
government some tough question about the
wrongdoings of the Islamists, only then they
break their silence but even then the reaction is
all but a whimper.
In March and April 2004, in western districts of
Bangladesh a man by the moniker "Bangla Bhai" and
his group of Islamists unleashed a rein of terror
while killing dozens of people. The government
did not react at all while newspapers published
color photographs of this "revolutionary"
fundamentalist renegade along with some short
interviews. The police were sidelined through
order from Dhaka as "Bangla Bhai" and his cohorts
rampaged the western districts. Now there is no
trace of this man. He disappeared into the thin
air a la Houdini's vanishing act! As a team of
American investigators went to the western
district to gather information about "Bangla
Bhai," they were told that no such person had
ever existed in that locality. The villagers are
now manning the area looking for communists. The
Americans won't mind the villagers' activity
because in this post Cold War days, the Bangalees
are still fighting the communists to maintain the
Pax Americana.
Under these circumstances, nothing good could be
expected from the four-party coalition government
because of undue influence of Islamists over the
Khaleda Zia Administration. Therefore, the civil
society should come into the defense of the three
"condemned" professors. At stake here is the
civil rights of the professors. Lest we forget,
Bangladesh's constitution gives personal freedom
to the citizens to practice their own religion.
If anyone wants to extol the virtue of
secularism, then why should that bother the
mullahs and muftis? In what way our majority
religion is in danger. The mullahs and their
cohorts have invoked a fourteen hundred year old
dictum that tells the faithfuls how to take care
of the dissidents. These practitioners of
religion have all but forgotten that we live in
the dawn of a new millennium. For haven's sake
Bangladesh is not an Islamic country; at least
not at this very moment. If the obscurantists
want to offer fatwa, they had better change the
constitution of Bangladesh.
I strictly recall that in January 2001, two
Supreme Court justices in Bangladesh have given
their verdict that there is no place for fatwa in
this nation. Simply put; fatwa is beyond the
realm of law. Immediately, some zealots offer
fatwa to declare the two respected judges to be
murtaad or apostates. The government of
Bangladesh then headed by Sheikh Hasina just sat
quietly without bringing the fatwa-givers to
justice. In other words, the government does
think that these are pranks. Likewise, the
Khaleda Zia Administration will also do nothing
against the mullahs and muftis who offered their
fatwa against the three professors.
My fervent request to the government is the
following: please arrest these bunch of mullahs;
let the law of the land work unhindered. These
mullahs have violated the civil rights of three
professors' and they should have to pay for their
infraction of law. Bangladesh is still governed
by a set of civil laws that are not in conflict
with the constitution of the nation.
As I see it, the mullahs in question are in
violation of the law. They should be apprehended
right away; and the law should run its course
with due diligence.
(Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and
scientist, writes from New Orleans, USA)
_____
[2]
http://www.vigilindia.org
Vigil India Movement,
61, Charles Campbell Road,
Cox Town,
Bangalore
M. A. THOMAS NATIONAL
HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD 2004
FOR Ms. TEESTA SETALVAD
Ms. Teesta Setalvad who fought fearlessly for the
rights of victims of the Gujarat carnage, which
led to the historic verdict of the Supreme Court
in the Best Bakery case, has been selected for
the prestigious M. A. Thomas National Human
Rights Award for the year 2004.
The Award was instituted by Vigil India Movement
in 1994 in memory of its founder-president Rev.
Dr. M. A. Thomas, a leading Human Rights
activist, with the intention to honour and
recognize individuals or organizations who have
made significant contributions in the field of
Human Rights. The award consists of a cash prize
of Rupees One lakh and a citation.
Ms. Teesta Setalvad was chosen unanimously by a
three-member jury consisting of Justice N. D.
Venkatesh, former Judge, High Court of Karnataka,
Dr. M. S. Thimmappa, Vice Chancellor of Bangalore
University and Dr. M. J. Joseph, Director of the
Ecumenical Christian Centre. Ms. Teesta Setalvad
was chosen from among 315 nominees before the
Jury. The Award will be presented to Ms. Teesta
Setalvad at a function in Bangalore in the first
week of September.
Ms. Teesta Setalvad, a Mumbai-based journalist
and human rights defender, is the recipient of
several national and international awards
including Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavna Award, Nuremberg
International Human Rights Award, Pax Christi
International Human Rights Award, PUCL Award for
Human Rights Journalism, etc. She is the
co-editor of Communalism Combat and the Secretary
of Citizens for Justice and Peace, an NGO
fighting for the rights of the victims of Gujarat
and Godhra violence.
Ms. Teesta Setalvad has rendered an outstanding
service to the protection of human rights and
upholding of the rule of law in the country in
the context of the mass violence in Gujarat. She
has been at the forefront of several campaigns
for the defense of democracy and human rights.
She has in particular gone to great lengths to
ensure justice for the victims of communal
violence during the Bombay riots and later in
Gujarat.
The previous awardees are: Mr. Harsh Mander, Dr.
H. Sudarshan, Justice V. M. Tarkunde, Ms. Medha
Patkar, Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, Mr. Ravi
Nair, Ms. Malladi Subbamma, Mr. Balraj Puri, Dr.
C.T. Kurien and People's Union for Civil
Liberties.
_____
[3]
The Praful Bidwai Column
June 28, 2004
Speeding The Indo-Pak Peace Process
Nuclear CBMs aren't enough
By Praful Bidwai
Dispelling fears that it would be stalled, the
India-Pakistan dialogue process has got off the
mark within barely a month of the swearing-in of
the Manmohan Singh government in New Delhi.
Sustained preparations preceded the take-off.
Besides a reported "secret" meeting between
National Security Advisers J.N. Dixit and Tariq
Aziz, there were at least three telephonic
conversations between Foreign Ministers Natwar
Singh and Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri in the past
fortnight. Then came the June 20 agreement on
nuclear confidence-building measures (CBMs). This
was followed by a meeting between the two Foreign
Ministers in China over a "working lunch" in a
"very cordial, friendly and warm atmosphere".
Their "chemistry" was "pretty good". After
assessing "the progress on all aspect of
bilateral relations including Jammu and Kashmir",
and implementation of the dialogue framework,
they described the result as "positive" and
"productive".
Clearly, both governments have decided to impart
a serious momentum to the dialogue process
leading to formal ministerial-level discussions
in August. The Foreign Secretaries' meeting
should see progress towards a comprehensive
dialogue on a range of issues. Both governments
want the next summit-level talks to be a success;
they are agreed that they can't afford a failure.
This should put at rest fears, especially in
Pakistan, that the United Progressive Alliance
government would not have the same commitment to
seeking reconciliation with Pakistan as Mr Atal
Behari Vajpayee's regime.
As this Column has argued, there is
across-the-broad support in both countries for a
dialogue for peace and reconciliation. Civil
society solidly favours it. In India, many UPA
constituents and supporters have always been keen
on it. Some of them took sober positions when the
NDA, including Mr Vajpayee, was hysterically
threatening Pakistan with an "aar-paar ki ladai"
(battle to the finish), and had declared peaceful
co-existence with it virtually impossible. The
resumption of the peace process is good news
indeed.
Amidst these hope-bearing developments, it might
seem somewhat off-key to sound a note of caution.
Yet, that has become necessary after the nuclear
CBMs agreement. The measures, it must be stressed
at the outset, are welcome even though half of
them restate what was agreed in Lahore in 1999.
They put the issue of nuclear risk-reduction on
the negotiating table and promote a degree of
transparency, itself a rare commodity in the
subcontinent. South Asia would be worse off
without the CBMs.
However, the CBMs are modest and hesitant, and
may prove inadequate in reducing the nuclear
danger in our tension-ridden region. It would be
a grave error to celebrate the CBM agreement as a
way of stabilising the strategic balance between
India and Pakistan. They don't even establish any
kind of "control" over the nuclear "genie" they
unleashed in 1998. Contrary to exuberant claims,
the two nuclear "twins" have not learnt how "to
tango" happily-in sane and secure ways.
First, the positive side. Pakistan and India have
reiconfirmed the agreement evolved in Lahore-1999
to notify each other in advance of impending
missile test-flights, and to continue with their
"unilateral" moratoria on nuclear test
explosions. Besides, they will establish a
"dedicated and secure" hotline between their
Foreign Secretaries and upgrade the existing
hotline between their Directors-General of
Military Operations, which functions somewhat
erratically. Secondly, they will "work towards
concluding an agreement with technical parameters
on pre-notification of flight-testing of
missiles". In plain English, they will furnish to
each other details on the timing of their missile
test-flights and flight-paths. This will mark a
minor improvement on the practice followed even
before the 1998 blasts.
However, these are, strictly speaking, not
confidence-building but transparency measures.
They cannot generate confidence that India and
Pakistan are really moving towards a restraint
regime which will substantially reduce and
eventually eliminate the nuclear danger. The
hotline between the two Foreign Secretaries will
doubtless help clear some misunderstandings,
especially in crises. But these officers are not
the key decision-makers in nuclear-military
matters. They can at best act as conveyors of
information and facilitators of decision-making
by the political leadership. (In Pakistan, the
military leadership.) This arrangement might
discourage "loudspeaker diplomacy"-in favour of
quiet consultations. But it cannot be a
substitute for genuine nuclear risk-reduction
measures (NRRMs).
I have three simple reasons for saying so. First,
the grave nuclear danger that India-Pakistan face
is that of potential use of nuclear weapons,
whether by intent or accident. This danger is not
imaginary. The two came close to the brink of a
nuclear confrontation at least three times since
1998: over Kargil (when Pakistan apparently got
its nuclear-tipped missiles ready), and in
January and June 2002, when one million soldiers
eyeballed one another. The only way of reducing
this danger is to agree to non-deployment of
nuclear weapons-by keeping nuclear warheads
separated from delivery systems (missiles,
aircraft, ships, etc.). Once nuclear weapons are
deployed in the field, there is a definite risk
that they might be used-unauthorisedly,
unintentionally, or by design. The two
governments should have agreed to non-deployment
at least for one to three years. They didn't.
Second, there is an urgent need to halt the twin
nuclear and missile arms races between India and
Pakistan. Once medium- and long-range missiles
are fully developed and deployed, the likelihood
of their use becomes high-unacceptably high in
South Asia. This is because there is little
strategic distance between India and Pakistan.
Missile flight-time between some of their major
cities is as little as 3 to 8 minutes-too little
to clear misperceptions, prevent unauthorised
use, or take other corrective action before
disaster strikes.
Logically, India and Pakistan should have frozen
missile development through a moratorium on
further test-flights for, say, two to three
years. This could have been done without
compromising security. But they failed to
negotiate this. Even worse, the agreed
nuclear-test moratorium clause takes away with
one hand what the other hand has given. The test
ban will hold-"unless, in exercise of national
sovereignty, [either state] decides that
extraordinary events have jeopardised its supreme
interests". This qualification is fatal.
Third, the two states should have agreed to
measures to address four specific risks
highlighted by peace activists: use of nuclear
weapons through miscalculation because of faulty
information processing or technologies;
unauthorised use of nuclear weapons by "rogue"
groups or fanatics; accidents, such as fires and
explosions near nuclear weapons; and rumours of
imminent use and the resultant panic response,
including panic reactions in crowed urban
centres. They did none of this. There have been
serious accidents in both countries' military
installations and nuclear facilities, including
scores of aircraft crashes, fires, and
adventurist actions by commanders. Good NRRMs
must address these risks-for instance, by making
authorisation procedures transparent, and by
installing systems to detect preparations for
unwarranted launches. The two failed to negotiate
or agree to such NRRMs.
The result is a very inadequate set of steps that
do not reduce nuclear dangers much. This
inadequacy's roots lie in two assumptions: first,
that "deterrence", including hair-trigger
readiness, is more important than safety; and
secondly, that nuclear weapons possession
"constitutes a factor for stability". The first
assumption is dangerously untenable in the
India-Pakistan context, marked by a history of
war, strategic miscalculation and
volatility-making for inherent instability during
their 57 year-long hot-cold war. The second is
falsified by experience. Nuclear weapons have not
promoted stability in South Asia. Rather, they
have been immensely destabilising. Their
possession has encouraged nuclear sabre-rattling
and adventurism. Kargil would not have happened
without the belief among Pakistani generals that
nuclear weapons provide them a secure shield for
armed incursion.
The real downside of the CBMs is that India and
Pakistan are anxious to appear "responsible"
nuclear weapons-states so they get to keep their
nuclear weapons. That's why there isn't a single
word about nuclear disarmament in the agreement,
not even as a long-term goal. Equally important
is the clause jointly calling for "regular
working-level meetings to be held among all
nuclear powers to discuss issues of common
concern", and also for "bilateral consultations"
on "security and non-proliferation issues within
the context of negotiations Š in multilateral
fora." In other words, India and Pakistan want a
place in the Global Nuclear Club-itself the
greatest danger to world security. They have no
intention of promoting regional nuclear restraint
or global disarmament. But we should know better.
True safety and security lies in the total
elimination of nuclear weapons. NRRMs are best a
transitional step to that goal.
One final word. Experience everywhere shows that
CBMs and their verification don't create trust.
Rather, it is the pre-disposition to trust that
guarantees that CBMs will work effectively and
promote greater trust. For instance, India and
Pakistan agreed to conventional CBMs in the early
1990s-such as prior warning of large-scale
military exercises near the border and a
commitment not to violate each other's airspace.
These CBMs were not adhered to because there was
no pre-disposition to trust; mistrust and
hostility prevailed. Now that a more favourable
climate exists, thanks to the peace process,
India and Pakistan should have aimed high. They
didn't. Their CBMs could fall below the critical
threshold.-end-
_____
[4]
June 29, 2004
AN ENCOUNTER - Fake or Real ?
by N.D.Pancholi
People at large are finding it difficult
to believe the version of the Gujrat Police
regarding the recent encounter near Ahmedabad on
15th June,04 in which they claimed to have
gunned down four Lakshare Toiaba terrorists who
were said to be on a mission to kill Gujrat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi. It appears to be a fake
encounter but the Gujrat police is feeding
media day in and day out with new pieces of
evidence against the dead accused to convince
the people about the genuineness of its action.
However the police has been trying to divert
attention of the people from the main issue.
. The main issue is whether it was
necessary to kill them ñeven if it is assumed
that they had terrorists links ? If they
really belonged to a dangerous terrorist
organization , was it not necessary for the
police to arrest them alive - so that the whole
conspiracy could be unearthed ? According to the
police the accused were under the surveillance
of the police for the last about six months
ñand in such a situation it was not difficult
for the police to nab them alive. According to
police version it were the accused who were the
first to start firing at the police party and
the latter fired only in retaliation. The
surprise is that there was no scratch to any
policeman while all the four accused were killed
when the police fired in reply ñ even the 18 year
old girl student Ishrat who did not fire any
shot ! The argument of the police -that they
were saved because they hid themselves behind
their vehicle, is not convincing. If the dead
accused were dangerous terrorists and if they
were on such a gruesome mission, they could be
in possession of more destructive lethal weapons
like bombs, grenades or rocket launcher or any
other explosive material against which even
their vehicle could not provide them any
protective cover. What precautions policemen had
taken to save themselves against explosives, if
any? Or did the police already know that the
accused did not have any explosive with them or
that they would not use the same if they had ?
Gujrat police has been trying to dig
out lot of evidence against the dead accused
and present the same to the media but there is
no explanation as to why it did not make any
attempt to catch the accused alive, and if such
an attempt was made, what was the nature of such
attempt and as to why it failed! After perusing
the sequence of events, it appears that the four
dead accused were already in the custody of the
police for about 2/3 days before the incident,
and on the night of 15th June they were taken
to a lonely place and killed by staging a fake
encounter where there was no public eye witness.
If any person is killed by another person,
it is an un-natural death and comes under the
category of ëculpable homicideí as defined under
section 299 of the Indian Penal Code and it is an
offence punishable with life imprisonment. If it
is proved that the concerned policemen
intentionally killed the said persons, then it is
murder and punishable with death penalty. In
any case the cause of such un-natural death has
to be investigated ñit does not matter whether
the death is caused by an ordinary person or by a
policeman. The person causing the un-natural
death of another person can save himself from the
charge of homicide only when he is able to prove
that he had to kill the concerned person in
self-defence and that there was no other
alternative. An un-natural death has to be
investigated. For example, if an husband comes
to the police station and reports that his wife
had committed suicide, it becomes the duty of the
Incharge of the police station to find out
whether it was a suicide or a murder. Similarly
if some policemen reports to the police station
that they had to kill some accused in an
encounter, in such a situation it also becomes
the duty of the Station House Officer to
investigate whether it was a real encounter or
whether the policemen have committed the offence
of murder. The police cannot make a presumption
without investigation that causing of death by
the bullet of the police is not an offence.
These deaths should be investigated by some
other reliable department. The report of this
investigation has to be sent to the magistrate
who has to examine such reports thoroughly to
find out whether the investigation has been done
properly and honestly or whether the report
is only an eye-wash to protect the guilty police
officers. The magistrate may accept the report
or disagree with it and may call for further
investigation. This procedure is part of the
Criminal Procedure Code and the policemen do not
posseess any special privilege to avoid this
procedure. Only after going through this
procedure it can be said whether the encounter
was real or fake. But the Gujrat police and
administration are already claiming that the
encounter was real - though the prescribed
procedure has not been followed. According to
the aforesaid report of the National Human Rights
Commission ì there is also a general feeling that
most of the encounters are fake. It is therefore
, in public interest, that the conduct of the
police involved is subjected to proper scrutiny
by investigation.î
Those who have been dealing with the
complaints of human rights violations by the
police and security forces, and making
investigations into them, especially the
human-rights activists , know how the police
fabricates evidence to hide its criminal actions.
It has been found out that in most of the cases
of the alleged ìencountersî the victims are
already in the illegal custody of the police
before such incident and they are tortured to
write and sign various documents against
themselves during this period of illegal
confinement. In most of the cases it is the
police who fabricates forged driving license,
ration cards and passports in their names and
lateron produce such documents in evidence in
the Courts against the accused. The police also
gives the accused several names like ìTariq
alias Rana alias Dilshad etc. etc.î which are
invented by the police itself. Weapons and
explosives are also planted on them. E-mail
accounts are also opened in their names or
pseuodonames. Witnesses are set up and tutored
to give false evidence. Misleading stories about
the accused/victims are spread through the media
during investigation to prejudice the people
against them.
There are hundreds of Pakistani nationals
who have been illegally residing in India.
Their motives for such illegal stay may be the
compulsion of earning their livelihood,
marriage or relations or any other similar
reason. Some of them might be involved some
petty criminal activities like smuggling etc.
They often change their names to hide their
identities. Foreigners Registration Offices have
lists of hundreds of such Pakistani nationals who
entered India on valid visa but later on
disappeared. In many cases police know about
their whereabouts but due to corruption do not
take any action against them. There are reasons
to believe that such Pakistani nationals
residing incognito are easily available to the
police to stage false encounter and later on
claim that the victim was Pakistani terrorist.
None of the relatives or friends of such victim
would come out in his support lest they should
also be framed in the terrorist offence.
Human Rights organizations have exposed the
falsehood of fake encounters from time to time.
The National Human Rights Commission has
emphasized the need to investigate such
encounters in accordance with the established
legal procedure. It should be a matter of
serious concern for all that, generally, there
is no serious investigation to find out whether
such encounters are real or fake. Police
investigation is devoted to only one aspect - to
establish the guilt of the victims by hook or
crook. The Commission has stated if required
procedure for investigation is not followed with
respect to police encounters, ìit would give
licence to the Police to kill with impunity any
citizen in the name of an encounter by just
stating that he acted ëin the right of private
defenceí or under section 46 of the Codeî. The
Gujrat encounter strengthens the above
apprehension of the National Human Rights
Commission.
N.D.Pancholi is an Advocate and Vice-President of PUCL (Delhi)
_______
[5]
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 10:28:32 +0100 (BST)
From: Shabnam Hashmi <anhadinfo at yahoo.co.in>
Reply-To: anhadinfo at yahoo.co.in
Dear Friends,
As you are aware July 1 is the day of martydom of
Vasant Rao and Rajab Ali. Last year we had
declared it as the day for Communal Harmony.
Movement for Secular Democracy every year
observes the day in the morning , for which you
must have already got the invite from MSD
directly.
Anhad, Prashant, Pratham , Darpana and Youth for
Peace invite you to a day of direct mass contact
for communal harmony with people of Ahmedabad on
July 1, 2004 .
500 volunteers would gather at 3.00pm at the at
the Loyola School Auditorium , for about 40
minutes to pay tributes to the memory of Vasant
and Rajab. We are in the process of finalising
this 40mnt-1hr programme.
A specially designed calender-poster having a
write-up on Vasant and Rajab and the yearly
calender from July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005 would
be released.
After paying tributes to Vasant and Rajab, the
volunteers would then go and distribute these
calenders to students, youth, people in general,
on the roads and in areas where they work.
We wanted to reach out to a large section but due
to paucity of funds we have been able to print
20,000 calender-posters only. So each volunteer
would take 40 calenders and while giving the
calenders to each person, they would spend some
time talking to them about the significance of
the day as well as the need for communal harmony.
We hope you will actively participate and atleast
some volunteers from your organisations would
also take part in the event.
We would be grateful if we know the organisations
who would be actively participating through their
volunteers so that we might include their names
in the press release.
Anhad and Prashant are doing the basic
coordination. Pratham has involved almost 350 of
its volunteers to take part in the event. Youth
for Peace team from Delhi would also participate.
Darpana, Prashant and Anhad and some friends are
contributing towards the printing of the posters.
Hope to see you on July 1, 2004 both at the MDS
programme in the morning as well as the afternoon
event at Loyola.
with warm regards
Shabnam Hashmi
______
[6]
Social Scientist
35A/1,Shahpur Jat
Near Asiad Village ,New Delhi-110049
SAHMAT
8, Vithalbhai Patel House, Rafi
Marg,New Delhi-110001
e-mail-sahmat@ vsnl.com
29.6.2004
Dear friend,
The vote against the NDA government in the recent
elections was also a rejection of the neo-liberal
economic policies which have been in vogue for the
last thirteen years and which the NDA in particular
was pursuing relentlessly. The peoplesí verdict
against neo-liberalism was scarcely surprising: the
pursuit of these policies has led to a severe
deflation of the economy, reducing the purchasing
power in the hands of the rural population in
particular; it has reduced per capita foodgrain
absorption to levels prevailing at the beginning of
the second world war; it has played havoc with the
agrarian economy with extreme tangible consequences by
way of mass suicides by farmers; it has aggravated
greatly the problem of unemployment in both rural and
urban India; and it has not only accentuated income
inequalities but also handed over public assets to
favoured private individuals at throwaway prices.
The peopleís preference for an alternative trajectory
of development has found recognition in the Common
Minimum Programme adopted by the UPA and supported by
the Left. The basic feature of this Programme is an
acceptance of the proposition that improving the
living condition of the people is the responsibility
of the State which has to start discharging it with
immediate effect. If the State enfeebles itself by
pursuing neo-liberal policies, then its culpability
does not in any way get reduced. The Programme
promises increased bank credit for rural areas, and an
Employment Guarantee Scheme which is part of an
alternative trajectory of development giving pride of
place to agriculture.
If this Programme is to be translated into some real
achievements for the people, then it is necessary to
keep asserting its relevance against the predictable
attacks on it by financial interests, by the other
beneficiaries of the NDA dispensation, and by the
votaries of neo-liberalism, especially those owing
allegiance to the Fund-Bank ideology. It is also
necessary to make concrete suggestions for the
realization of the objectives of the Programme.
To this end the journal Social Scientist, in
collaboration with Sahmat, is organizing a one-day
Convention on July 5, starting at 10 a.m., at the
Speakerís Hall, Constitution Club, New Delhi, on the
theme 'India: An Economic Agenda for 2004'. The
provisional list of speakers at the Convention
includes Ashok Mitra, Amiya Bagchi, Utsa Patnaik,
Madhura Swaminathan, Jayati Ghosh, C.P.Chandrasekhar,
Ashok Rao, Sukhdeo Thorat and others. We shall be very
grateful if you could attend the Convention and enrich
it with your presence and participation.
With warm regards,
Yours sincerely,
Prabhat Patnaik
Rajen Prasad
______
[7]
Dawn,
June 27, 2004
EXCERPTS: For paradise in the next world
By Muhammad Amir Rana
Muhammad Amir Rana traces the emergence of the
jihadi organizations in Pakistan. He also talks
to some young recruits about how they joined
their groups.
The martyrdom of 30,000 Pakistanis in Afghanistan
and Kashmir, 2,000 sectarian killings and the
enthusiastic enrolment of 200,000 young men in
various jihadi and sectarian organizations in the
last two decades is the direct result of the
jihadi culture prevailing in the country. A
progeny of the Afghan war, this jihadi culture
was strengthened by the revolution in Iran,
nurtured by the Americans via 'Operation
Cyclone', nourished by the extremist views and
money of Osama bin Laden and came to fruition in
the acts of the Taliban. Consequently, Pakistan
found itself playing host to terrorism instead of
acquiring either Kabul or Srinagar.
When Soviet forces entered Afghanistan, religious
factions had already found a foothold in
Pakistani politics by helping dismiss the
democratically elected People's Party government
of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in an undemocratic manner
and installing a military dictator in its stead:
a 'Mard-i-Momin' with his own religious agenda.
The religious parties gained strength from the
'benevolence' of the United States which invited
true believers from all over the world to unite
against the threat of communism posed by the
Soviet Union. Many religious leaders in Pakistan
welcomed the call and, declaring the Afghan war
to be a 'jihad', began to send young men to join
the cause.
America began to invest heavily in the Afghan
war. According to a disclosure by Zbigniew
Bzerzinski on July 3, 1979, Jimmy Carter had set
aside a secret fund of 500 million US dollars for
this. A fund so secret that even the Congress
knew nothing about it. The purpose of this fund,
according to John Pilger, was to create a
terrorist organization that encouraged and
utilized Islamic extremism to undermine the
Russian government in Central Asia.
The CIA called it "Operation Cyclone'' and in the
following years four billion dollars were
committed to its promotion that included the
establishment of a large number of religious
madressahs or schools in Pakistan. John Pilger
also states that eager young men from Pakistan's
religious parties were sent to espionage training
centres run by the CIA in Virginia, where future
Al Qaeda members received their training in
terrorism while others were sent to the Islamic
School of Brooklyn, New York, to study terrorist
techniques under the very shadow of the World
Trade Centre. In Pakistan, officers of the
British MI6 and the local ISI played the role of
'teacher'.
The November-December 2000 issue of the American
magazine Foreign Affairs published an article
"The culture of jihad in Pakistan" by Jessica
Stern. Referring to Milt Bearden, the chief of an
American secret agency in Pakistan during
1986-1989, the article states that America and
Saudi Arabia provided 3.5 billion dollars to
Pakistan during the Afghan war and, along with
drugs and arms, 'jihad' became an important
business of this region.
During the Afghan war the Pakistani secret
service agency, the ISI, was reorganized in the
manner prescribed by 'Operation Cyclone'. The CIA
and the ISI together controlled the Afghanistan
war but the reorganization of the ISI resulted in
serious damage to Pakistan ultimately. The ISI
tightened its grip on matters of state and in the
following years coerced democratically elected
governments to function according to its agenda.
Toppling and creating regimes became a pastime.
During the 1988 general elections the grand
alliance of religious parties, the IJI, mocked
the Pakistan People's Party with "You lost Dhaka,
we won Kabul". Even when the PPP came to power
with its liberal leanings it could not change
this policy. The Taliban experiment took shape
during its rule and there was no change in either
the Afghan or Kashmir policy. The ISI was not
willing to compromise on any of these issues. In
her first tenure as prime minister, when Benazir
toured Muzzaffarabad, she was briefed by the ISI
on the working of the organization called
'Hurriyat' in occupied Kashmir and requested to
continue the policies of the previous government
in this respect; a request that Benazir granted.
Nobody had thought of challenging this jihadi
role of the ISI prior to September 11.
The ISI and the governments under its influence
did much to promote the jihadi culture in the
country. 'Raw material' for jihad was acquired
through two sources:
1 Religious madressahs
2 Government schools and colleges
To acquire the desired human resource, a large
number of religious madressahs were established
utilizing the Afghan war fund set up by the
Americans. Parties organized on sectarian basis
were used for this purpose and students from
these madressahs played an important role in the
war in Afghanistan. It is important to note here
that prior to 1980 there were only 700 religious
schools in Pakistan and their rate of growth only
three per cent per annum that increased by 136
per cent by the end of 1986. Now there are 7,000
large religious madressahs in the country that
award degrees equivalent to MA and PhD.
Most new madressahs were established in the NWFP,
Southern Punjab and Karachi and have served as
breeding grounds for jihadis. According to the
renowned Azad Kashmiri scholar and intellectual,
Syed Mehmud Azad, "maulvis (orthodox religious
scholars) will only send their students for jihad
if they have been promised ample recompense.
Since the government could not send the regular
army to Afghanistan, the students were handed
over to the agencies by the thousands. The flows
of money from the United States whet the
agencies' appetite and more and new pastures were
sought to sustain the trend. Kashmir proved
fertile ground for their activities even though
the maulvis were not interested in its
liberation, then or now. Jihad has become a
business well publicized by the press".
Another source of the jihadi manpower was found
in student unions with a religious manifesto that
had acquired a strong hold in schools and
colleges. The list of martyrs of six jihadi
organizations show that on the average five times
as many students of regular institutions lost
their lives than those coming from religious
madressahs. Religious parties also used their
regular members and the jobless for this purpose.
The ouster of the Soviet forces from Afghanistan
should have signalled the completion of the
American agenda in the region, but the resulting
jihadi culture in Pakistan could not be brought
to an end as this would mean that the Afghan
jihad was not mandated by the shariah. Religious
parties and madressahs continued to promote this
culture with the blessing of the establishment.
* * * * *
Let us view some of the reasons given by
mujahideen of Jaish-i- Mohammad for joining a
jihadi organization. These were published in
October 2001 in the Karachi edition of the
fortnightly Jaish-i- Mohammad.
* My name is Mohammad Siddique and I belong to
Takhla in the NWFP. I have completed high school
and have also read the Quran. When I finished
with my matriculation exams, a friend of mine
gave me a cassette recording of the
Jaish-i-Mohammad Ameer, Hazrat Maulana Mohammad
Masood Azhar. The recording was about the Babri
mosque and had such a profound effect on me that
I decided to spend the rest of my life in jihad.
I first went to madressah Khalid Zubair where I
received preliminary training then, till
recently, I was at madressah Ahmed Shaheed and
will now proceed to Kashmir in a few days.
*My name is Shah Faisal and I am from District
Shangla on the Swat border. I have read the Quran
and completed my Matriculation after which I went
to Karachi where we have a textile shop. There I
used to read newspapers and magazines that
described the atrocities being committed in
Kashmir and decided that I should join the jihad
and teach the infidels a few lessons. I then
underwent training at madressah Ahmed Shaheed and
will be going to Kashmir in a few days.
*My name is Zakaullah and I belong to Tehsil
Mansehra Warkan. I studied up to the ninth grade
after which I became a labourer. I always liked
jihad and had read in books that martyrs went to
heaven without questioning by God. We were
sinners and I thought this was the only way to
redemption and therefore I joined madressah Syed
Ahmed Shaheed, Balakot.
* My name is Abdul Rehman and I come from an area
near District Faisalabad. I am totally
illiterate. I used to carry baskets in the
wholesale vegetable market in Faisalabad, finding
work wherever I could. Once, in the market there
was a hotel serving food during Ramazan and
people were blatantly dishonouring the sanctity
of the holy month when mujahids from Harkatul
Ansar reached the scene and immediately had the
hotel stop serving food. They gave a long sermon
that touched my heart and I decided to commit
myself to jihad. I went to madressah Khalid Bin
Walid and since then have been to many fronts and
am on my way to Kashmir now.
*My name is Mohammad Naeem Siddiqui and I belong
to District Mansehra. I cannot read or write.
When I was very young the role of breadwinner
fell on my shoulders and I left home to work as a
labourer. I used to make tandoori bread for the
students of Masjid Furqan in Islamabad and there
I heard the Maulvi Sahib speak frequently about
jihad. The sermons convinced me and when I
listened to the cassette recording of Maulana
Mohammad Masood Azhar about the Babri mosque I
became determined to join the jihad. I took leave
from Masjid Furqan and became a driver. When
Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Masood Azhar came to
Rawalpindi, I got to hear him live and my
leanings towards jihad strengthened further. I
used to frequent the Islamabad mosque where the
mujahideen very often visited my mentor Maulana
Siddique. By now the conditions of my household
had also improved by the grace of God and I
received training at madressah Syed Ahmed
Shaheed. Now I am going to Kashmir.
*My name is Mohammad Yar Afghani; I belong to
Gardez, Afghanistan and used to work in
Jalalabad. From there I came to Peshawar and then
accompanied a friend in search of work to
Muzzaffarabad. As a child I had heard stories of
jihad from my elders and was determined to
participate in jihad when I grew up. One day I
went to my friend Haq Nawaz Bhai and he told me
that this world is finite and everyone must die,
life after death is infinite therefore let us
train for and join jihad. So I joined madressah
Syed Ahmed Shaheed for training and am now going
to Kashmir. If I am martyred, I have recorded a
cassette of my poems please give that to my
friend Haq Nawaz so that he remains in touch with
the holy war.
*My name is Mu'awiya and I belong to District
Bagh in Azad Kashmir. I am seventeen years old
and have studied up to the fourth grade in a
school, then I learnt the Holy Quran by heart
from madressah Ta'aleemul Quran Hanafiya Chattar
# 2. I learnt fifteen chapters of the Quran at
the mosque in my village then joined madressah
Mahmood Ghaznavi for training. I joined jihad
because of a sermon delivered by Ameer Muhtarim
Hazrat Maulana Mohammad Masood Azhar at Bagh and
am now going to Kashmir.
This is an account of the religious organizations
in Pakistan waging 'jihad'. The book, first
published in Urdu as
Jihad-i-Kashmir-o-Afghanistan: Jihadi Tanzeemon
aur Mazhabi Jama'aton ka Eik Ja'iza, gives
comprehensive information about their goals,
strategy, training, recruitment and affiliations,
as well as their madressahs.
Maulvis will only send their students for jihad
if they have been promised ample recompense.
Since the government could not send the regular
army to Afghanistan, the students were handed
over to the agencies by the thousands. The flows
of money from the United States whet the
agencies' appetite and more and new pastures were
sought to sustain the trend.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excerpted with permission from: A to Z of Jihadi Organizations in Pakistan
By Muhammad Amir Rana
Translated by Saba Ansari
Mashal, RB-5, 2nd Floor, Awami Complex, Usman
Block, New Garden Town, Lahore-54600
Tel: 042-586 6859
Email: mashbks at brain.net.pk
592pp. Rs400
______
[8]
Healing Streams: Bringing Hope in the Aftermath of Violence
By Sushobha Barve
Published by Penguin Books India
Price: Rs 295.00
ISBN: 0143029622
Edition: Paperback
| 256 pages
Classification: Non Fiction
Published: 5/15/2003
Confronting the anger and bitterness in the aftermath of riots
On a train journey in 1984, Sushobha Barve
watched in horror as two of her co-passengers
were beaten up, set afire and left to die in the
aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination. The
nightmare of that journey led her to find ways of
preventing such conflagrations and, where
violence had already occurred, working towards
alleviating the distress and sense of
hopelessness that such events leave in their
wake. It was an exploration that took her to
Bhagalpur in 1989, Mumbai in 1992 and Ahmedabad
in 2002, where some of the worst riots in
post-Partition India had occurred.
Thrown into the middle of pitched battles and
desperate attempts to save lives, she discovered
a world of simmering bitterness and hatred, of
lives reduced to utter despair by a few days of
madness. She also discovered that her
self-appointed task of preventing and alleviating
distress required enormous fortitude and courage.
This account of her work with riot victims is an
engrossing and topical book that addresses the
reality that escapes the newspaper headlines, the
suffering that continues long after the events
themselves have dimmed from our memory. It is
heartbreaking work but the rewards, for her as
for the reader who follows her on this journey,
are dazzling.In Mumbai she was among the first
people to go to the riot-hit areas and meet the
victims and give them solace. She witnessed
first-hand the raw anger, bitterness and
helplessness of people who had been cohabiting
the same place seemingly in harmony for years but
needing just the slightest provocation to break
out in a mad frenzy to maim and kill. She
explores how politicians and others instigated
the riots and tried to hinder alert citizens
trying to strengthen local networks against
troublemakers. And describes other instances of
cooperation-Hindu women masquerading as Muslims
during curfew to collect shrouds from a mosque.
Barve and other volunteers addressed the
immediate need which was to get the people to
eschew violence. The longer-term exercise was to
bring together two communities suspicious of each
other but wanting to live in peace. This involved
engaging the local people in building a
preventive mechanism against the outbreak of
violence in the future. The risks taken were many
and at times they went horribly wrong as all they
had to back them up was instinct and a resolve to
maintain peace at all costs. But the rewards too
were many and amazing friendships were formed
between people who would normally not have
interacted with each other.
Dwelling on the heavy price of violence and the
importance of healing and reconciliation, Barve
exhorts civil society to shake out of its apathy
and to reach out to victims of mindless violence.
For, all very often all that riot victims need is
a willing and understaning ear to hear them out.
URL: www.penguinbooksindia.com
______
[9]
KASHMIR- WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD
Tuesday 6 July, 6.00pm
SOAS (G57), Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1
(Tube Russell Square)
What lies ahead for the people of Kashmir at this crucial
point in the relationship between India and Pakistan? How can
we support their struggles against ongoing human rights
violations?
Film: PAPA 2 - the Indian government's detention centre in
Kashmir.
Dir. Gopal Menon 2002, 20 mins
Followed by a discussion led by Najeeb Mubarki (SOAS/ South
Asia Solidarity Group)
Details: South Asia Solidarity Group tel: 0207 267 0923
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
The complete SACW archive is available at:
bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/
South Asia Counter Information Project a sister
initiative, provides a partial back -up and
archive for SACW: snipurl.com/sacip
See also associated site: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org
DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
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