SACW | 14 Jul 2004

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire    |  14 July,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net

[1]   Pakistan: Tackling the Hudood laws (Edit., The Daily Times)
[2]   Pakistan's Acid-Attack Victims Press for Justice (Juliette Terzieff)
[3]  Twenty Years of Impunity : The November 1984 
Pogroms of Sikhs in India  (Press Release ENSAAF)
[4]   Indian Historian Irfan Habib criticises 
failure to reverse `saffronisation'
[5]   India: News from the Narmada Bachao Andolan
   - Notice served on Medha Patka (News Reports)
   - Rehabilitation Minister Visits Satyagraha: Assures Detailed Discussion
   -

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

[1]

The Daily Times [Pakistan]
July 14, 2004 | EDITORIAL

Tackling the Hudood laws

Prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has 
sought the advice of the Council of Islamic 
Ideology on the proposed amendments to the Hudood 
Ordinance. He said that the related ministry had 
sent him the draft for the approval of the 
cabinet but he thought it fit to consult the CII 
before approving it. Some people have heaved a 
sigh of relief, thinking that the CII will 
quickly resolve the problem of purging the 
existing Islamic law contained in the Ordinance 
of all its negative aspects. A number of Women 
Commissions set up by governments in the past 
have recommended that Hudood (Quranic 
punishments) be made fair for women and the 
minorities. The latest Commission, headed by 
Justice (Retd) Majida Rivzi, has advised that 
since all Islamic law could be prosecuted through 
the concept of Tazir (punishment by the judge) 
the Hudood could be safely abolished altogether.
On the other side, the MMA has vowed to 
militantly defend the Hudood laws and the 
notorious Blasphemy Law. Some conservative 
journalists have gone so far as to predict that 
the MMA will be able to mobilise the masses 
effectively against any change in the Hudood laws 
and that there will be 'blood on the streets' of 
the country. As for the authority of the CII, it 
has been challenged by the MMA. Because of the 
literalist-mindedness of its earlier composition, 
the CII as advisory body on Islamic laws was kept 
vacant by President Pervez Musharraf far beyond 
the time period allowed after expiry of its term. 
Finally when the new members were announced, the 
MMA denounced them as 'angutha-chaap' (rubber 
stamps) even though the new members were more 
scholarly and knowledgeable than earlier members. 
The MMA boss Qazi Hussain Ahmad went to the 
extreme of accusing one member of the CII of 
being a Qadiani, which is a sure-fire formula for 
sabotaging any religious reformist measure. So 
the newly constituted CII has its task cut out 
for it: it can either sit on it a long time or 
kowtow to the clergy or take the plunge and say 
what needs to be said by way of enlightened 
opinion.
It is not that there is no enlightened opinion in 
the country against the extremism of the clergy. 
There are learned people who think that the 
Hudood and Blasphemy laws could be amended to 
remove their unfairness without flouting the 
Islamic edicts. But such scholars are most 
reluctant to take on the militant Islamists on 
this issue because of fear of abuse and ostracism 
which can end in violence. Even so, at least one 
courageous scholar, Javed Al Ghamidi, appeared on 
a private TV channel earlier this month to say 
that these laws were defective in their 
methodology of registering cases against women. 
He said the Islamic law was defective in 
testimony because the Holy Quran did not decree 
half a witness in cases other than the law of 
contract. He said new thinking had to be 
undertaken or the law would continue to create 
and pose problems. He also asserted that there 
was no ground in Islam for separating Hudood and 
Tazir. There is thus weakness in the orthodox 
position since some Hudood have been categorised 
as such even though the punishments are not fixed 
in the Holy Quran. The problem in Pakistan is 
violence and lack of rationality, a deadly 
combination.
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has pushed the problem 
on to the desk of the CII. The matter will be 
shelved if the CII submits to the threatened 
violence of the clergy. The political parties too 
need to come out clearly in favour of the 
amendments if the CII is to take heart. But that 
may be easier said than done. For instance, the 
PPP is lukewarm over the infamous Blasphemy Law. 
The 'Islamists' in the PPP point to Zulfikar Ali 
Bhutto Bhutto's Islamisation to defend the laws 
even though they are aware of the broad consensus 
within the MMA that no woman should become the 
prime minister of Pakistan. The PML-N is already 
convinced that the laws are okay and it is quite 
possible that even Chaudhry Shujaat Husain may 
'residually' still think so. As if to remove the 
cobwebs of doubt in Islamabad, the MMA government 
in the NWFP is more sure-footed about how it is 
going to make Islam tougher for the common man. 
It is making namaz obligatory and is warning that 
it will raze to the ground any commercial 
building constructed now without an inbuilt 
mosque, even though the NWFP chief minister says 
there will be no coercion (sic!) under the new 
regulations leading to the enforcement of the 
controversial Hisba law.
The obligation to improve the law is on the 
Muslim community for its own sake. The function 
of constant improvement is made difficult by the 
violent rift that exists between the dominant 
orthodoxy and thinking Muslims. The issue becomes 
internationalised when an Islamic state falls 
foul of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
which it has signed as a member of the United 
Nations. Victimisation of women and the 
minorities under Islamic law is a concrete 
reality and Pakistan must do something about it 
urgently. We propose that while the government 
goes about cobbling a workable consensus to do 
away with these laws or to amend them 
significantly, it should take remedial 
administrative measures to lessen the sufferings 
of the victims. For instance, as stated by 
religion minister Ijazul Haq, administrative 
measures - already in place but hardly ever 
resorted to - should be made obligatory to 
prevent the abuse of the Blasphemy Law. Since 
over 90 percent of the women victimised by the 
Hudood Laws are exonerated by the superior 
judiciary, administrative measures could be 
adopted in their case too. Meanwhile, discussion 
at the intellectual level must be pursued 
vigorously and courageously by all. *


_____


[2]

Women's eNews
July 13, 2004

Pakistan's Acid-Attack Victims Press for Justice

By Juliette Terzieff
WeNews correspondent

Acid-attack victims and their families are 
seeking justice in Pakistan courts and speaking 
out against a form of violence that disfigures 
hundreds of women every year.

MULTAN, Pakistan (WOMENSENEWS)--Almost two years 
after relatives of a disgruntled suitor attacked 
his family with acid and killed two of his 
children, Daud Aziz Siddiqi is still in deep 
grief.

"I watched her melt away day by day . . . one day 
I woke up and her ear was gone," Siddiqi says of 
his hospital stay with 18-year-old daughter Rabia.

As he speaks, his wife Tahira sobs beside him. 
"If someone is shot with a bullet, most times 
there is surgery and then it is gone. With acid 
the pain just goes on and on and on."

The attack occurred early in the morning of July 
23, 2002, as the Siddiqis, their daughter Rabia, 
and granddaughter, 4-year old Khola, slept in the 
courtyard of their Multan home. A father of a 
suitor the Siddiqis had declined as a mate for 
Rabia scaled the wall and splashed acid on the 
sleeping figures.

From within the house another family member heard 
their screams and ran out to witness the 
attacker, Zafar Siyal, fleeing.

When the Siddiqis reached the hospital, the skin 
had melted from Tahira's back and right arm. 
Rabia and Khola were more severely disfigured.

In an attempt to channel their agony the Siddiqis 
are pursuing the case in Pakistan courts and 
speaking out in the national media against a form 
of violence that disfigures hundreds of women 
every year in this South Asian nation.

'Sharp Water' in Urdu

They call it "tezab," sharp water in Urdu. 
Normally used for agricultural purposes, nitric 
and hydrochloric acid are easily obtainable and 
all too often turned into weapons for men against 
women and their families.

After confessing, Siyal was found guilty in 
December 2003 and assigned punishment under 
Pakistan's "Qisas" law which calls for a 
perpetrator to suffer the same fate as a victim. 
The case is now under appeals as Siyal attempts 
to avoid the judge's assigned punishment of 
having drops of acid placed in his eyes.

Hundreds of women every year fall victim to acid 
attacks usually at the hands of their husbands, 
jilted suitors or other family members. In 2002, 
280 Pakistani women died and 750 were left 
disfigured by acid attacks according to a Human 
Rights Watch report issued last summer.

The majority of attacks occur in rural areas 
where tribal law dominates and violence is common 
way to settle disputes. In central and southern 
Punjab province, where Multan is located, cases 
of reported acid attacks have been steadily 
rising, from nine in 2001, to 56 in 2002, to 74 
in 2003.

Sometimes the attacked women are seeking a 
divorce or the husband is seeking a second wife 
over the first's objections. Sometimes the 
triggering event can be as trivial as an argument 
over grocery money.

Many Cases Unreported

"Many cases go unreported as most women do not 
know their rights, or the culprits take the 
victim for medical treatment, claiming it was an 
accident, and threaten the victim or her children 
if she speaks out" says Wasim Muntizar, deputy 
coordinator for the Centre for Legal Aid and 
Settlement, a nongovernmental organization in 
Pakistan that helps defend and care for 
impoverished people.

"Lawyers usually have only the story told by the 
victim, rarely do any witnesses step forward . . 
. thus the conviction rate is well below 5 
percent," Muntizar says. "Few cases ever even get 
to the courts."

Especially in smaller towns and villages, where 
female literacy is often only as low as 10 
percent, the way of life can keep acid-attack 
victims out of public view. Once past puberty, 
young women are confined to their family's walled 
compound. Often they are forbidden from seeing 
male relatives outside their immediate family.

"It's not that people don't care," Muntizar told 
Women's eNews. "But rather that the majority of 
these cases are hidden away, quashed by the more 
powerful families."

It's a horror story Bushra Hali knows all too well.

A couple of years after getting married her 
husband and mother-in-law began repeatedly asking 
her to procure 50,000 rupees ($900) from her 
lower-middle class family to help pay the bills. 
Hali's family could not come up with the money, 
but her husband accused her of lying.

"I didn't understand what they were going to do, 
I never would have believed they could do such a 
thing," Hali recalls of the morning nine years 
ago when her mother-in-law bound her hands behind 
her back and began beating her. Then her husband 
wrapped a piece of cloth around the top of a 
stick and dipped it in liquid. After rubbing it 
in her face he handed it to his mother.

The last thing Hali remembers of that day is her 
mother-in-law bearing down upon her with the 
stick as her face began to burn. Hali was so 
severely mutilated that she was unable to speak 
for a year and half. During that time her in-laws 
sullied her reputation saying that she was having 
an illicit affair with a man. Even Hali's own 
relatives thought she'd done something terrible.

Desperate to avoid returning to her in-laws 
house, Hali dropped her attempts to prosecute her 
husband and mother-in-law in return for a 
divorce. In the process, she lost access to her 
three toddlers. She hasn't seen them since the 
morning of the attack.

"God only knows what lies my children have been 
told about their mother," she laments. "But I 
look like a monster. I scare kids on the street, 
how can I go back? How can I find out if they 
have some love left for their mother?"

Now, living with her aging mother, Hali, who has 
had 38 surgeries, spends most of her time 
indoors, wrapping her face tightly in a large 
scarf when she does leave the house.

"I die 10 times a day, and no one realizes it. I 
am utterly destroyed," she cries.

For the Siddiqis, who have spent countless hours 
learning about acid attacks and their aftermaths, 
securing a conviction against Siyal is the only 
way to procure some sort of justice for 
themselves and survivors such as Hali.

Their worst fear is that Siyal's lawyers will 
hold down the case so long in appeals, that 
eventually he is freed. They have organized 
demonstrations, spoken to politicians and 
advertised in national media to ensure that 
doesn't happen.

"If it was in my hands, every man guilty of this 
crime would be severely dealt with . . . at the 
least, life in prison, so that everyone knows 
that this crime will be punished under the law," 
says Daud Aziz.

"Our only hope," he says shakily, "is to keep 
screaming, keep fighting . . . and pray that all 
this suffering won't go unpunished."

Juliette Terzieff is a freelance journalist 
currently based in Pakistan who has worked for 
the San Francisco Chronicle, Newsweek, CNN 
International, and the London Sunday Times.


_____



[3]

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jaskaran Kaur
Mobile: 857.205.3849

TWENTY YEARS OF IMPUNITY

The November 1984 Pogroms of Sikhs in India

(San Francisco, CA, June 29, 2004)

ENSAAF- a new U.S.-based organization launched to 
enforce human rights and fight impunity in India 
– releases its first report Twenty Years of 
Impunity: The November 1984 Pogroms of Sikhs in 
India. This in-depth 150-page report, available 
at <www.ensaaf.org/20years.html>, analyzes 
thousands of pages of previously unavailable and 
secret affidavits, government records and 
arguments submitted to the 1985 Misra Commission, 
established to examine the Sikh Massacres in 
Delhi, Kanpur, and Bokaro.

The report reveals the systematic and organized 
manner in which state institutions, such as the 
Delhi Police, and Congress (I) officials 
perpetrated mass murder in November 1984 and 
later justified the violence in inquiry 
proceedings. After a thorough discussion of 
administrative and judicial impunity, the report 
applies the international law of genocide and 
crimes against humanity to the pogroms, relating 
the massacres with international understandings 
of gross violations of human rights.

"This is an age when countries as diverse as 
Mexico, Peru, Cambodia and Ethiopia, among 
others, are digging into violent eras of their 
histories to set records straight and name those 
in power who allowed human rights abuses to occur 
or, worse, ordered them. In two decades, there 
has been no similar movement for a day of 
reckoning in India," writes retired New York 
Times reporter, and eyewitness to the massacres, 
Barbra Crossette in her foreword to the report. 
Given the recent appointment of key perpetrators 
to ministerial positions in the Indian 
government, the report encourages survivors and 
witnesses to take private initiatives to help end 
impunity.

"Unless the voices of survivors are heard and 
recorded, history will eclipse their narratives 
and the silence of impunity will prevail. We hope 
survivors, including those in the diaspora, will 
lead us and other concerned individuals in 
organizing and initiating documentation projects 
and spearheading the campaign for justice," said 
Jaskaran Kaur, executive director of ENSAAF. The 
report describes and summarizes key failings in 
the Indian state's enforcement of the survivors’ 
rights to knowledge, justice and reparation.

ENSAAF (www.ensaaf.orgwww.ensaaf.org) works with 
survivors to engage in advocacy and outreach, 
documents violations, and educates the public 
about human rights violations in India. ENSAAF's 
programs include Community Advocacy, Legal 
Advocacy, United Nations, Education and Human 
Rights, and Media and Human Rights. ENSAAF, which 
means justice in many South Asian languages, acts 
to implement the international rights to 
knowledge, justice and reparation.

_____



[4]

The Hindu
July 14, 2004

Irfan Habib criticises failure to reverse `saffronisation'

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 13. Historian Irfan Habib 
believes that the present United Progressive 
Alliance-Government is more afraid of its 
opponents than concerned about its constituents, 
who had voted it to power. This is more so in the 
case of its failure to reverse the 
"saffronisation" process, initiated by the 
previous regime.

Speaking at a convention on education organised 
by the Students Federation of India (SFI) here 
today, Prof. Habib asked: "If we were to agree 
with what our predecessors said, why did we vote 
for a change?" According to him, the priority 
should have been reversal of the "saffronisation" 
and "communalisation" of history textbooks, 
which, unfortunately, figured lower on the list 
of priorities of the Human Resource Development 
Minister, Arjun Singh.

"De-saffronisation" was a major issue on the 
Common Minimum Programme agenda and the old 
textbooks should have been totally rejected by 
now. "There appears to be a curious nervousness 
about the matter in the Ministry and it appears 
that by not changing the curriculum, the Ministry 
has approved the deeds of the previous regime," 
he said and demanded reinstatement of the 
textbooks used before the "saffronisation."

According to Prof. Habib, all that had been 
achieved in the field of education in the past 50 
years had been altered by the BJP Government; 
they needed to be replaced urgently. The fact 
that the BJP Government had been voted out of 
power meant that the people had rejected all 
their policies. The HRD Minister's statement that 
he would continue some courses such as astrology 
if the people so wanted suggested that he had 
little understanding of the people's mandate.

"The changes by the new Government appear 
superficial because the HRD Ministry's priorities 
were admissions to the management schools and 
finalising its fee and not de-saffronisation," he 
said. Drawing the attention of the audience to 
the drawbacks in the higher education system, 
Prof. Habib wanted more funds and better 
utilisation of these funds to improve the content.

The SFI general secretary, Kallol Roy, said a lot 
of damage had been done to education by the 
previous Government; it had tried to introduce 
the Sangh Parivar's ideology. Some 
academically-unqualified people had "infiltrated" 
into various committees and caused "immense 
damage."

The CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury, was present on the occasion.

____


[5]

Sify News, 26 June , 2004
Notice served on Medha Patkar
By Narad in Bhopal

Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar 
and two others have been served notice for not 
informing the police about two US citizens 
staying at the NBA's local office.
http://sify.com/news/othernews/fullstory.php?id=13507804


o o o

Narmada Bachao Andolan
B-13, Shivam Flats, Ellora Park Road
Baroda, Gujarat
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Press Release
July 13, 2004

Rehabilitation Minister Visits Satyagraha: Assures Detailed Discussion

Shri. Patangrao Kadam the new Minister for
Rehabilitation in Maharashtra visited the
Satyagraha site and held discussions with the
people.

He attentively listened to the demands of the
people. Realising the gravity of the situation,
the Minister assured to hold the proposed joint
meeting of the Overview and Planning Committees
tomorrow, instead of July 15th.

The meeting will discuss among other things, the
implementation of cabinet decision, making the
records of affected people correct, planning of
village-wise rehabilitation and purchasing
private land and procuring forest land for
rehabilitation. In the meeting NBA will be
represented by Medha Patkar, Pratibha Shinde,
Noorji Padvi, Pinjaribai, Chetan and others.

It may be noted that around 100 representatives
from various villages from Maharashtra affected
by the Sardar Sarovar dam began an indefinite
Satyagraha at the Gandhi statue, near Mantralaya
in Mumbai yesterday (July 12).

The people are demanding just rehabilitation,
which is lacking even when their lives and
livelihood are threatened in this monsoon, with
large submergence anticipated.

Representatives of many organisations visited the
Satyagraha site today to express their
solidarity. They include film artist Sadashiv
Amrapurkar, film producer Chitra Palekar,
Sarvodaya activist Daniel Mazgaonkar, Smt.Ahalya
Ranganekar, dam affected people from Nasik and
Beed districts. College students from Nirmala
Niketan and other colleges from Mumbai also
visited the people to extend their support to the
ongoing struggle.

Yogini Khanolkar

o o o o

Narmada Bachao Andolan
B-13, Shivam Flats, Ellora Park Road
Baroda,  Gujarat

Press Update
July 13, 2004

NBA Delegation Meets Maharashtra Home Minister:
High Level Meeting to be Held on Thursday

A delegation comprising of Medha Patkar, senior
political leader N. D. Patil, film personality
Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Pratibha Shinde, village
representatives like Noorji Padavi, Pinjaribai
Pawara, Rania Dia & others, and representatives
from Somawal and Amlibari rehabilitation sites
met the Home Minister R. R. Patil and
Rehabilitation Secretary K. S. Vatsa yesterday
(July 12).

The Minister expressed disgust on not
implementing the cabinet decisions till now. The
Minister ordered to resolve the dispute on the
records of declared and undeclared oustees within
the next one and a half months. The Divisional
Commissioner would settle the dispute. NBA is
permitted to check the records at the Tahsil
level. The Minister asked explanation to the R&R
Secretary for not buying the private land for
rehabilitation.

A joint meeting of the Overview Committee and the
Planning Committee is called on the Thursday
(July 15th), under the chairmanship of the state
Minister, Vilasrao Patil.

The people expressed their anger in repeatedly
showering promises and not meeting it. They said
the High Power Committee for expediting the
purchase of private land for rehabilitation is
actually delaying the matter. "It is a sad irony
that while hundreds are dying in Nandurbar
District due to malnutrition and the government
is spending thousands of crores of rupees to curb
it, people are displaced from their rich natural
resource base with no alternative means of
livelihood", senior village representative Noorji
Padvi told the Minister.

The Gandhi statue, near the State Secretariat at
Mumbai had a different set of visitors yesterday.
Early in the morning, some 100 representatives of
villages Narmada valley, affected by Sardar
Sarovar dam reached the statue. People started an
indefinite Satyagraha there amidst the songs and
slogans filling the air.

The people were forced to come to the streets of
Mumbai again due to the apathetic and callous
attitude of government towards them. The over
1500 families in Maharashtra, losing their houses
and fields in the rising waters of Sardar Sarovar
this monsoon have not received any rehabilitation
till date. This is in spite of tall promises made
by the government over the past many months.

The people on Satyagraha demands implementation
of the decisions taken by the state cabinet
during the January 2004; making the record of
oustees correct; to provide health services to
the people left in the villages and functional
Public Distribution System in the villages, among
others.

Supporters from many parts of the country,
especially Maharashtra supported the ongoing
Satyagraha. People from Tamilnadu, dam-affected
from Pawana Dam, representatives from Eklavya -
Raigad, Masum ñ Pune, and various organisations
from Mumbai extended their support.

The people are forced to continue the  Satyagraha till the demands are met.

Yogini Khanolkar
Chetan



_______



[6]

India Pakistan Arms Race and Militarisation Watch Compilation # 144
(July 14,  2004)
URL: groups.yahoo.com/group/IPARMW/message/155

========================================
Table of Contents
========================================

[1] Non State Actors and Violence - Pakistan:
   a) Suicide City (Massoud Ansari)
   b) Time for policy shifts (Kaiser Bengali)
   c) Pakistan: The monopoly over violence (Irfan Husain)
   d) Our daily dose of terror (Aamna Haider Isani)
   e) Pakistan Emerges as Threat to Regional Stability (Stephen Blank)
   f) Terrorism: origin and spread (Shahid M. Amin)
   g) As Terror Attacks Return, Reasons Haunt
Pakistanis (David Rohde and Zulfiqar Shah)
   h) Banned religious outfits becoming cohesive: report (Rauf Klasra)
   i) A war of sorts : Growing militancy in western Pakistan (M B Naqvi)
   j) The War On Terror and The Politics of Violence in Pakistan (Afzal Khan)

[2] Non State Actors & Violence - India:
    - Saffron protest hits Lahore bus (Punjab)
    - Bajrang Dal to give 'trishul diksha' to five lakh activists
    - Bajrang Dal starts arms training camp in
Ayodhya (www.sify.com, 08 June , 2004) (Vinay
Krishna Rastogi)

[3] Pakistani and Indian Mercenaries in Iraq:
   a) Procuring security guards for Americans (Aziz-Ud-Din Ahmad)
   b) Mercenaries from India? Ex-Servicemen Find a
Second Career in Iraq (Siddharth Srivastava)

[4] Small Arms in Pakistan / India:
   a) Guns or Growth? (report by Oxfam et al)
   b) Arms' trafficking goes on in Gujrat (Wajahat Ijaz)
   c) MQM urged to help recover illegal arms (Shahid Husain)
   d) Illegal arms factory busted in Bihar
   e) Need arms licence? Your reason better be good

[5] Military and the Media - Pakistan / India :
   a) Not by command alone (Husain Haqqani)
   b) Pakistan: Arrests, threats and press freedom
violations in South Waziristan (Reporters Without
Borders)
   c) Chhattisgarh's top cops woo media to battle Maoists
   d) India: Towards bridging Army-media divide
   e) War as daily diet for the masses (Samir Nazareth)

[6] Nuclear Matters:
    - Towards N-stability in South Asia (Talat Masood)
    - Reduce Nuclear Risk With Pakistan (The Hindu)
    - Pakistan says it won't curb nuclear arms plans (Boston Globe
    - Ahmed was trying to sell N-data for $1 m (Times of India)
    - Hurdles to Indo-US nuclear co-operation yet to be removed (L K Sharma)
    - US eager to boost N-Ventures with India (Business Standard)
    - Russian help bolsters N-submarine programme (Rahul Bedi)
    - An Estimate of India's Uranium Enrichment Capacity (M. V. Ramana)

[7] Army Restructuring In Pakistan : Reactions From India
     - Restructuring Pak Army: boon or bane? [Part I and II] (S M Hali)
     - Restructuring revisited (ZahidHamid)
     - General's orders not our orders (Brigadier Kiran Krishan (RETD))
     - Follow Pak example, cut down (Raja Menon)

[8] Security And Surveillance:
     - Security cameras to be installed in Karachi: Faisal
     - Karachi: People suffer for 'extra' security measures (Arman Sabir)
     - Mobiles to be jammed in Pak Parliament
     - Tight security as Hindus begin march in India state
     - National ID-cards on anvil
     - Banks for inclusion of customer data on MNIC (K Ram Kumar)
     - Big Brother's eyes on civic staff (Shafi Rahman)
     - Sensor in your cellphone (Aparna Singh)
     - No regulating body for security agencies
     - Army for separate info network in border areas

[9] Kashmir:
     - The 'Core' Issue (Siddharth Varadarajan)
     - 'Everyone has lost...' (Beena Sarwar)
     - "Tout ce qu'on veut, c'est vivre en paix" (Pierre Prakash)
     - Armed forces Special Powers Act in J&K to stay
     - Violence in Kashmir Invades a Most Sacred Space (Amy Waldman)
     - Siachen heights take Pak talks to military turf (Sujan Dutta)

[10] The folly of missile defence (Sumit Ganguly)
    + [Related Material] Response by India to
President Bush's Speech on Missile Defense, 1 May
2001]

[11] Pakistan: Military Industrial Complex: Selected Websites
     - Select URLs

[12] Pakistan India: Arms Acquisitions, and development:
     - Pakistan could buy radar system from Swedish
Ericsson: Musharraf  (AFP via Yahoo! News , July
5, 2004)
     - China assures Pakistan of better Navy
support (Daily Times, Pakistan - May 18, 2004)
     - Pakistan to acquire 35 old Mirages from
Libya (Pakistan Times, 16 June 2004)
     - India develops BVR missile for battle tank Arjun
     - Seventy MiG-21s to go by mid-2005 (Mid Day, June 5, 2004)

[13] India Defence Budget Hike
     -  India Pays for Their Dirty Deals (J. Sri Raman)
     - India goes splurging in arms bazaar (Rajat Pandit)
     - India is not setting a shining example - Editorial: Daily Times
     - India's ever-increasing defence budget (BBC News, UK - Jul 8, 2004)
     - Pranab offensive on NDA's defence
     - Army wants funds for modernisation (Rajat Pandit)

[14] Missile Testing  & India  - Pakistan Parleys:

      -  Talks & tests to go hand in hand (The Telegraph, July 04, 2004)
      -  Fresh team, new talks, old no-war pact (Telegraph, India)
      -  Talking Peace and Kashmir--Warily, Under a
Nuclear Shadow (Praful Bidwai)
      -  India tests nuclear capable missile
      -  Musharraf says Pakistan planning "important" missile test: reports

[15] India's Military-industrial complex :
Private corporate actors in the Defence economy
   [Useful Reference URLs]
     +
      -  Bharat Forge set to enter defence (Sify, 27 June , 2004)
      - General Dynamics Flies Into India
      - Govt to simplify procedures to defence
procurement (Economic Times, India - Jun 22, 2004)
      - Tata licensed to supply defence-related
vehicles (Navhind Times, India - Jun 24, 2004)
      -  L&T to widen tieup with HAL (Business Standard, India - Jun 18, 2004)
      -  DRDL to develop Astra missile (Business Line, India - Jun 16, 2004)
      - Atomic Energy Act to be reviewed (Business Line, 22 June , 2004)
      - IDBI bank to disburse defence pension

[16] Military Influence & Agencies overstepping the limits
      - [Pakistan] The role of military in national affairs
      - India News: Army raid on Assam MP's house creates furore
      - Spiraling Rights Abuse in India's Northeast Fuels Protest
      - Human rights violations take centre stage
in Manipur (The Hindu, Apr 10, 2004)
      - Kashmir 'torture' sparks protest  ( BBC, July 9, 2004)
      - No Defence For This Deal
      - Andhra Pradesh : Police trying to sabotage
talks, says Varavara Rao (The Hindu, Jul 12, 2004)


[17] India - Gujarat Encounter Killing : Compilations of Reports etc


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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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DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.

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