SACW | 5 Aug 2004
sacw
aiindex at mnet.fr
Wed Aug 4 23:29:38 CDT 2004
South Asia Citizens Wire | 5 August, 2004
via: www.sacw.net
[1] Pakistan: JAC and WAF seek signatures against Hudood Ordinance
[2] India: CNDP Press Release on Award to Admiral Ramdas
+ report on Admn. Ramdas (Kalpana Sharma)
[3] India: On Reservation For Muslims (Asghar Ali Engineer)
[4] The Changing Indian Muslim (Vir Sanghvi)
[5] Letters to SACW:
(i) On the New RSS Uniform - (Mukul Dube)
(ii) We support Muslims for Secular Democracy (Sanjay Sangvai / NAPM)
[6] Clerics condemn Kashmir pop song
[7] India: Trouble over exhibition at the Delhi School of Economics
[8] Book review: 'Peace studies edited by Ranabir Samaddar' (C.t. Kurien)
[9] India: Invitation Convention Demanding
justice to the TADA victims (New Delhi, August 6)
[10] India: The Scholar of Peace Fellowships by WISCOMP
--------------
[1]
The Daily Times - August 04, 2004
JAC AND WAF SEEK SIGNATURES AGAINST HUDOOD ORDINANCE
Staff Report
LAHORE: The Joint Action Committee (JAC) for
People's Rights and Women's Action Forum (WAF)
have together launched a nationwide signature
campaign against the Hudood Ordinance, calling it
'a discriminatory law' which deserves to be
repealed.
"We are launching the campaign to mobilise the
public opinion against the infamous law," JAC and
WAF leaders told a press conference at a local
hotel on Tuesday.
JAC Convener Shah Taj Qizilbash, Hina Jilani,
Neelam Hussain, Mahboob Ahmad Khan and Farzana
Mumtaz said that the first demonstration would be
held at Lakshmi Chowk in Lahore on August 10 at
5pm.
"The government is reportedly reviewing the
Hudood Ordinance and the signature campaign is
aimed at voicing people's concern over the
discriminatory law, which has been responsible
for injustices to women and minorities for more
than 25 years," they said.
"We call upon the government to repeal the law in
the light of the recommendations made by an
official commission formed in 1997 and the
reports of another commission formed in 2003,"
they said.
They said both commissions consisted of senior
members of the judiciary, human rights activists
and representatives of civil society.
They noted that the courts had also criticised
the misuse of the Hudood Ordinances.
______
[2]
Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP)
4 August 2004
PRESS RELEASE
The grant of the Ramon Magsaysay award to India's Admiral Laxminarayan
Ramdas and Pakistan's I.A. Rehman is an honour for South Asia's growing
peace movement and a tribute to civil society initiatives for
India-Pakistan reconciliation. We in the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament
and Peace (CNDP) feel particularly pleased at the award: Adm Ramdas has
been an active member of CNDP's National Coordination Committee right since
its inception in November 2000.
Ramdas is the only former defence services chief in South Asia to have
categorically opposed nuclear weapons and the dubious doctrine of nuclear
deterrence. More than 60 former generals and admirals the world over have
done so. Conscientious citizens should pay heed to these voices of sanity
as they struggle against militarism, and for peace and justice. While
welcome in itself, the India-Pakistan peace process cannot succeed without
reducing and eventually eliminating the nuclear danger in our volatile region.
Praful Bidwai, Anil Choudhary, Prabir Purkayastha
A-124/6, Katwaria Sarai
New Delhi 110 016
o o o o
[See report from The Hindu]
The Hindu - August 05, 2004
URL: www.thehindu.com/2004/08/05/stories/2004080504261200.htm
WE NEEDED A MAGNANIMOUS APPROACH, SAYS RAMDAS
By Kalpana Sharma
MUMBAI, AUG. 4. For a soldier trained for war to
be recognised for his work for peace is unusual
in any country. But for an Indian soldier and a
Pakistani journalist to be selected for an
international peace award is unprecedented.
India's former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral L.
Ramdas and the Pakistani journalist and human
rights activist, I.A. Rehman, have been jointly
selected for this year's Ramon Magsaysay Award
for Peace and International Understanding. The
recognition comes as a consequence of the work
done by both in "reaching across a hostile border
to nurture a citizen-based consensus for peace
between Pakistan and India."
Unofficial peace efforts
Speaking to The Hindu on the phone from
Hyderabad, Admiral Ramdas said that although he
became actively involved in the unofficial peace
efforts between India and Pakistan through the
Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and
Democracy (PIPFPD) only after he had completed
his tenure in the navy, he had thought about
these issues even while he was in service. "I
felt we needed a magnanimous approach," he said.
"Militarily nothing will get solved" between
India and Pakistan, he added. As Chief of the
Naval Staff from December 1, 1990 to September
30, 1993, he had advocated ship visits between
the two countries as also with China. Today, he
admits that those suggestions in the early 1990s
might have been ahead of their time. The
political leadership, he says, was unable to
absorb such ideas.
After he retired from service in 1993, Admiral
Ramdas was approached by Nirmal Mukherjee, a
former Cabinet Secretary, to become part of the
people to people peace efforts between India and
Pakistan. At a convention in New Delhi in March
1994, the PIPFPD was born. While Admiral Ramdas
was president of the forum from 1996 to 2003, his
counterpart in Pakistan was his co-awardee, I.A.
Rehman. Currently, he is president emeritus of
the forum while the former West Bengal Finance
Minister, Ashok Mitra, is the president.
`A lonely journey'
Has he had any support from his colleagues in the
armed forces for his pro-peace position? "Most of
the journey has been a lonely one," admits
Admiral Ramdas. "The military mind takes that
much longer to accept some of the issues that I'm
concerned about."
Admiral Ramdas has been an outspoken critic of
India's nuclear programme and was one of the
initiators of an appeal for peace issued by over
40 ex-military men in May 1998, after India and
Pakistan conducted nuclear tests. He is a
prominent member of the Coalition for Nuclear
Disarmament and Peace and is also on the
International Advisory Board of the Hague Appeal
for Peace.
While in service, Admiral Ramdas says he insisted
on the strictest of punishment to members of the
armed forces who committed a civilian crime. "It
is utter nonsense to say that holding someone
from the armed forces accountable for such crimes
will undermine their confidence." On the
contrary, he says making someone an example for
having committed such a crime will ensure that
such crimes do not recur.
The awards ceremony will be held in Manila on
August 31. Accompanying Admiral Ramdas will be
his wife Lalita Ramdas, who has been equally
active in the peace efforts between India and
Pakistan. Mrs. Ramdas has a history of activism
on women's issues and for human rights. Admiral
Ramdas recalls than even when he was in service,
she continued her work as an activist.
For instance, she was involved in providing
relief to victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in
Delhi and also deposed before the Misra
Commission investigating these riots. But, he
says, "I always told her to follow her conscience
and was confident that even if there was fallout,
things would take care of themselves."
______
[3]
(Secular Perspective August 1-15, 2004)
ON RESERVATION FOR MUSLIMS
by Asghar Ali Engineer
The Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh
announced 5% reservation for Muslims in
educational institutions as well as in jobs. This
has been done by creating category E for Muslims
as there already exists categories A, B, C and D
for backward classes. The reason for creating the
category E for Muslims seems to be that Muslims
in A.P. are extremely backward and poor. The
order for reservation cited that in A.P. about 65
per cent Muslims live below poverty line whose
annual income is less than Rs.11,000/-. It also
says that 16% Muslims in A.P. live below double
poverty line whose annual income is below
Rs.4,500/-.
Where there is poverty there is widespread
illiteracy. The literacy rate in A.P. is just
about 18 per cent among men and abysmally low of
4 per cent among women. Thus Muslims are worse
than dalits all over India in general and in A.P.
in particular. It should open the eyes of those
who keep on accusing that Islam spread through
sword and that Muslim rulers were busy spreading
Islam and breaking Hindu idols. Large parts of
Telangana were ruled by Nizam for several
centuries and yet Muslims are so poor and
backward precisely in that part of the state.
It is because only the poor dalits converted to
Islam and not highly influential Hindus who
enjoyed high status in Nizam rule. No attempt was
ever made to convert them to Islam. Even in
Hyderabad city, which was the Centre of Nizam
rule Muslims are abysmally poor and backward.
Thus the A.P. Government created category E for
poor and backward Muslims to give them 5%
reservation.
All those who stand for reservation for the
dalits, tribals and backwards have supported this
measure. Ram Vilas Paswan has always supported
reservation and is now demanding reservation for
dalits in private industries and also fully
supported the A.P. Governmentís move to give 5%
reservation for Muslims. Lalu Prasad Yadav too
extended his support along with Karunanidhi of
Tamil Nadu. Even a BJP ally and former chief
minister of Andhra Pradesh Mr. Chandrababu Naidu
has endorsed the reservation. The TDP itself had
promised 3 per cent reservation for Muslims in
its manifesto for Lok Sabha elections and BJP had
not objected to it at all.
As expected the only party to oppose reservation
with all vehemence at its command was the BJP and
other members of the Sangh Parivar. The BJP while
contesting elections for the Lok Sabha was wooing
Muslims for votes and was promising sky to them.
Mr. Vajpayee while campaigning in Bihar even
promised to appoint 2 crore Urdu teachers if
voted to power (yes, that is what he said in his
speech and this was not appeasement of Muslims as
it was being said by the BJP leader, it becomes
appeasement only when the Congress leaders say
so). The BJP raised hue and cry as soon as the
A.P. Government announced the reservation under
E. category for Muslims.
The BJP described this reservation as
ëanti-nationalí and announced that it would
launch a fortnight long campaign agitation
ìagainst appeasementî. Mr. Venkaiah Naidu told
reporters on 18th July that ìThe decision to give
5 per cent reservation to Muslims in educational
and jobs is dangerous, divisive and against
national interest. It is a trial balloon for the
entire country and part of the ongoing
appeasement politics.î Not surprisingly Atal
Bihari Vajpayee fully endorsed the BJP move to
oppose A.P. Governmentís announcement for 5 per
cent reservation for Muslims in jobs and
educational institutions.
Addressing the BJP Parliamentary Party on 20th
July, Mr. Vajpayee described Andhra Governmentís
move as ìunconstitutionalî and ìillegalî. He also
felt that the controversial decision would give
ìrise to religious conversion in the stateî. For
Mr. Vajpayee reservations should always be on the
basis of social and economic backwardness and not
on the basis of religion.î
Of course one could never expect BJP to support
reservation for Muslims and also perhaps for
Christians. However, whatever the BJP stand it is
bound to be anti-minorities. One could not expect
it to be favouring minorities on any issue. But
reservation on religious grounds by itself can be
a contentious issue. It has to be debated in all
its consequences. Many otherwise committed
secular people also have expressed doubt on the
issue. Even among Muslims there is no unanimity.
It is therefore, important to discuss this issue
in all its complexities. It should not be debated
only in terms of pro and anti-Muslim rhetoric.
It is important to note that this issue
representation of Muslims in government jobs in
U.P. and Bihar had played an important role in
creation of Pakistan. The upper class privileged
Muslim minorities of U.P. and Bihar was quite
apprehensive that they would loose their
privileged positions in government jobs in united
India as it would have Hindu majority and the
Hindu majority would take away most important
jobs leaving Muslims high and dry. This fear did
play an important role in creation of Pakistan
movement.
These upper caste and upper class Muslims from
U.P. and Bihar migrated to Pakistan for retaining
their high positions and for quick promotions.
But the low caste poor Muslims had no such
inspirations nor they could have got such jobs
with few exceptions. These poor and illiterate
Muslims who were in large numbers, therefore,
remained indifferent to Pakistan movement. They
had nothing to gain or loose. But today new
middle class among Muslims is emerging from these
backward class and low caste Muslims.
Until recently in independent India all the
benefits of parliamentary seats or government
jobs have gone to the so-called ashraf only. Mr.
Ali Anwar from Bihar in his Musawat ki Jang
(Battle for Equality) has pointed out the plight
of dalit Muslims in Bihar and maintains that in
all these years of independence no backward caste
Muslims ever got an opportunity to become M.P. or
MLA though such Muslims constitute more than 90
per cent of Muslim population. Only in the recent
Lok Sabha elections some M.P.s belonging to dalit
Muslims have been elected M.P.s
Though theoretically there is no discrimination
on such grounds in Islam but caste
discriminations (as the words ashraf and ajlaf
i.e. noble and low point out) has always existed
and short of untouchability low caste Muslims
(ajlaf) have not been equitably treated. The
implementation of Mandal Commission Report in
1990 gave new hope to these dalit Muslims and a
new awareness have been born among them. Many low
caste Muslims like Shabbir Ansari in Maharashtra,
Aijaz Ali and Ali Anwar in Bihar and others in
U.P. are trying to organise them and struggling
for reservations for them under Mandal Commission
categories.
These Muslims point out that general reservations
for Muslims on religious grounds would benefit
only the so called Ashraf Muslims and will hardly
percolate down to poor dalit Muslims. These
leaders would prefer reservation for Muslims only
under Mandal Commission categories. This too is
not an easy task. The concerned governments and
backward caste commission has to take clear and
bold stand.
Apart from this the important question is should
there be reservation on religious ground? I think
it is very complex question and would be
difficult to answer in yes or no. It has to be
examined from different angles. Firstly any
reservation purely on religious grounds is bound
to invite vigorous opposition particularly from
Sangh Parivar. It would give an emotional issue
to RSS and BJP looking for emotive issues after
loosing power. Many secularists would also not
support such a move unreservedly. Even there
would be no unanimity among Muslims on this, as
pointed out above.
This would also necessitate constitutional
amendment as Constitution provides reservation
only on caste grounds. One can of course argue
that there are dalit Muslims and dalit Christians
as there are Hindu dalits. And if the argument is
that there is no caste system among Muslims and
Christianity, one can argue it is only a
scriptural view of religion and not
anthropological view as in practice there are
corresponding castes among Muslims and Christians
too. Why not reservations for them? There is no
caste system theoretically among Buddhists too
yet reservations have been extended to
neo-Buddhists?
The argument that extending reservations to
Muslim and Christian dalits would encourage
conversions to these religions is not
constitutionally sound. One is free to convert
under the Article 25 of the Constitution. Yet,
one must realise that politically it is a
volatile question. Muslims and Christians too
should take politically wise decision. In this
era of privatisation the government jobs are
contracting. Though there is demand for
reservation in private jobs it will not be easy
for any government to bring private jobs within
the ambit of reservation. Some positive
discrimination or affirmative action may be
possible but that too will take long time and
will not be easy to achieve.
The best thing in the given complex situation
would be a mixed bag solution. Muslims and
Christians could be assured reservation under
Mandal categories. Secondly, the governments,
Central as well as state could make special
arrangements for higher education for weaker
sections of society and even create institutions
to search for talents among them and ensure jobs
for them. Thirdly, on patterns of affirmative
action in US industries, private sector
foundations could be created for education of
such sections among dalit Muslims. Lastly leaders
of Indian Muslims should convince well-to-do
Muslims in India and abroad to donate generously
from Zakat money to create educational endowments
and foundations in India to establish educational
institutions of good qualities for poor Muslims
be they from upper castes or lower castes. There
is immense potential for such endowments.
I hope the Indian Muslims will give thought to
these suggestions and critically reflect on the
complex question and would not try to beg for
reservation pushing up communal temperature and
handing on silver platter a much sought for issue
to the Sangh Parivar.
==================================
Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
Mumbai:- 400 055
Website: www.csss-isla.com
______
[4]
The Hindustan Times, July 31 2004
THE CHANGING INDIAN MUSLIM
by Vir Sanghvi
It is a measure of how far removed the internal
politics of the Muslim community is from the
secular mainstream that we have heard so little
about a debate over the limits to fundamentalism
that is currently raging within the community. On
one side are ranged a variety of Muslim
intellectuals and activists - many under the
banner of Muslims For Secular Democracy - and on
the other is a section of the fundamentalist
establishment, along with such mass circulation
newspapers as Bombay's Urdu Times.
For nearly as long as I can remember, anybody
making the case for secular harmony always comes
up against the standard Hindu taunt: if you are
so keen on fighting Hindu fundamentalism, then
why don't you do something about Muslim
fundamentalism and fanaticism? Why is it okay to
ban The Satanic Verses just because some mullahs
object? Why is it okay to overturn the Shah Bano
judgement only because fundamentalists within the
Muslim community wish to retain the right to
mistreat their wives? Why is it okay to ask the
Shahi Imam to issue a fatwa in favour of a
political party but anti-secular when sadhus and
sants campaign for Uma Bharti? Why must Hindus be
criticised for being concerned with their places
of worship while the tax-payer is simultaneously
paying for Muslims to go to their place of
worship in the form of the Haj subsidy? Why do
secularists get so agitated about the curriculum
at RSS schools when madrasas are spreading
fundamentalist venom?
These are good questions. And I've always
believed that one reason why the BJP has so much
middle class Hindu support is because secularists
have never been able to provide convincing
answers. Instead, we have confused secularism
with bending over backwards to appeal to the
lowest common denominator within the Muslims and
appeasing fundamentalist community leaders.
When the Babri Masjid was demolished, many
educated liberal Muslims of my acquaintance were
shattered. They believed then that they had
allowed fundamentalists to hijack their
community's leadership and recognised that most
Hindus now thought that Muslim politics consisted
exclusively of the right to kill Salman Rushdie
and to refuse to pay maintenance to discarded
wives.
The community was probably too shattered to come
up with any long-term solutions during that
period. But the trauma of the Gujarat riots seems
to have had a salutary effect. Not only are
educated Muslims asking the right questions again
but many are actually running a campaign to
reform the community from within.
Many of those involved with Muslims For Secular
Democracy are those who were the most critical of
Narendra Modi and the most active in trying to
find some judicial redressal once the political
system had been hijacked by the bearded mass
murderer. But this time around, they said to
themselves: it is not enough to attack Hindu
fundamentalism; it is time we took on the
fundamentalists in our own community.
The list of people involved with Muslims For
Secular Democracy reads like a who's who of
liberal Muslim intellectuals but the
organisation's best-known spokesman is probably
the poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, who is one of
the founding members.
Javed and his friends decided that mere liberal
opposition to the community's fundamentalists
would be counterproductive. The liberals would
merely be dismissed as atheists or communists.
Instead, Muslims For Secular Democracy chose a
different path. They called meetings of Muslims
from all over India and agonised over a draft
declaration on the issues confronting the
community.
In many areas, they took surprisingly liberal
stands. They believed that elements of Muslim
Personal Law as it exists in India were
regressive and anti-women. For instance, even
though the Koran specifies that a daughter will
inherit one-third of her father's property, this
does not apply to agricultural property under
Indian Muslim Personal Law. Similarly, the triple
talaq provision is far more liberal in India than
in most developed Muslim countries where women
are offered much more protection. Even the right
to have four wives is subject to all kinds of
qualifications in Bangladesh and Pakistan, while
it is seen as pretty much a basic right of all
Muslim men by the Indian Muslim Personal Law
Board.
The declaration was even more daring when it came
to so-called controversial issues. For instance,
Muslims For Secular Democracy declared that
Muslims in India did not need the Haj subsidy and
argued that it was doing more harm than good to
the Muslim community.
Once the draft declaration was ready, teams from
the core group of Muslims For Secular Democracy
traveled all over India, held meetings at centres
of Muslim learning and debated the provisions.
There were the predictable objections from the
fundamentalists but the general mood of the
community was surprisingly liberal.
For instance, says Javed Akhtar, nobody had
explained to Muslims that the Haj subsidy is
effectively a subsidy to Air-India, not to
Muslims. Air-India takes the money from the
government and then sells tickets at what it
claims are discounted fares. But, says Javed,
given the volume of business during the Haj
period, most airlines are willing to sell tickets
at special fares that are even lower than
Air-India's. When this was explained to Muslims
all over India, they recognised that the subsidy,
which they had been told was a mark of India's
secularism, was actually meaningless. All it did
was provide another stick for Hindu communalists
to beat the Muslim community with.
Why were Muslim audiences so receptive? All of us
have been told that the Muslim community is now
so insecure that any attempts at reform will be
resisted and treated as an assault on the
community's basic freedoms.
On the contrary, says Javed, his feeling is that
Muslims are tired of being taken for granted by
their leaders and treated as polling booth fodder
by political parties. Yes, they're insecure, he
concedes. Anybody would be after Gujarat. But the
insecurity has led to greater introspection, not
to a sullen resistance to reform.
Predictably, the more conservative elements in
the community are bitterly opposed to Muslims For
Secular Democracy. Such bodies as the Muslim
Personal Law Board have such entrenched interests
(assisted somewhat by the fact that few Muslims
understand how the board's members are elected)
that they will resist all attempts to reform the
law.
But there has also been a more virulent streak to
the opposition. For the last several weeks, Urdu
Times, a paper published from Bombay, has been
viciously attacking Javed personally and
questioning the credentials of Muslim For Secular
Democracy.
Local Muslim politicians have met the police
commissioner of Bombay to complain about the
reformers: their claim is that if Muslims For
Secular Democracy go too far then conservative
Muslims may take to the streets and there could
be a law and order problem. (This is a familiar
tactic. The same argument was used to justify the
ban on The Satanic Verses.)
The politicians and the fundamentalist leaders
believe that their position is strong because
Maharashtra will go to the polls in a few months.
The state government is being told that unless it
acts firmly (i.e. against the reformers) the
Congress-NCP alliance will lose the Muslim vote.
It is claimed that at one meeting of the
reformers somebody said that all books, including
the Koran, consisted of propaganda of one kind or
another. This, say the fundamentalists, is
blasphemous and represents an insult to Islam.
Therefore, many of the reformers should
immediately be arrested.
The worst vitriol is reserved for Javed himself.
He has been personally attacked on the grounds
that he is a) a divorcee, b) a communist, c) an
atheist, d) an American agent, e) a Jew agent,
and God alone knows what else. That these
allegations are self-contradictory tells us
something about the level of the opposition.
I have no idea how the debate will shape up. But
Javed says he is optimistic. He believes that the
hysterical response from the fundamentalists
shows that they are worried. He thinks that the
days of the Muslim vote bank are over. Already,
he says, the Muslim community has moved much
further than most Hindus recognise: there are no
more demands to ban books, no attempts to make
Muslim Personal Law more regressive (as in the
Shah Bano case), and people like the Shahi Imam
now count for nothing at all.
Sadly, there is very little that non-Muslims can
do to help the debate along. All change must come
from within the community and it must come from a
basic recognition that it is time to move into
the 21st Century.
Nevertheless, it is hard not to agree with Javed
Akhtar when he tells the fundamentalists that for
people like them, secularism only means the
freedom to practice their own kind of
fundamentalism. If they believe that the liberals
have no rights within their community, then how
are they any better than Praveen Togadia who
believes that Muslims have no right in India?
______
[5] [ LETTERS TO SACW]
(i)
Date: Tue, 03 Aug 2004 19:42:03 +0530
From: Mukul Dube <arhardal at netscape.net>
Subject: Re: SACW | 3 Aug 2004
I seem to have anticipated the TOI report. M
---------
25 July 2004
Elegance and utility will be combined if the new
uniform [being considered by the RSS] is a
saffron track suit. The breast should be
emblazoned with a picture of Narendra D. Modi,
Lal K. Advani or similar divinity. The trousers
should be patterned after "cargo" pants, with
pockets for such essentials as Rampuri Trishuls,
cellular phones linked directly to the Ahmedabad
police control room, perforated saffron condoms,
and handy guides -- pictures only, text is
pointless -- to the burning of bakeries and the
harassing of bearded tea vendors on railway
platforms. There are many reasons why the seats
of the trousers should be well padded with cotton
wool.
Mukul Dube
D-504 Purvasha Anand Lok .. Mayur Vihar 1 .. Delhi 110091
o o o o
(ii)
Date: 4 Aug 2004 16:04:31 -0000
From: "Sanjay Sangvai" <sanjsan at rediffmail.com>
To: "sacw" <aiindex at mnet.fr>
Subject: Re: SACW | 4 Aug 2004
We, in National Alliance of People's Movements
(NAPM)stand by the courageous friends of MSD. The
state must not shirk from its duty to protect
the freedom, democracy and the secularism and
prevent any act which would vilate these
constitutional values. We firmly hold that
religious bigotary of any kind - be it a Hindutva
kind, the Muslim or Bush-type neo-imperial bigots
or any other kind- has no place in a civilized
and democratic set up and rule of law. The reform
in any society should first come from within the
society; but then the state must act to protect
the voices of such sanity and humane values
within that society. The autonomy of any
religious or any other group does not mean the
license to go trample upon the rights and voices
of dissenting voices within that community/group.
We are afraid that this rise of intolerance and
fundamentalism within the Muslim powerholders
might be further fodder for the other Bajrangis
or Bushs.
We extend our support to MSD, Javed Akhtar and their colleagues.
Sanjay Sangvai
______
[6]
BBC - 3 August, 2004, 17:11 GMT 18:11 UK
CLERICS CONDEMN KASHMIR POP SONG
The song is a big hit with Kashmiris (Photos
courtesy of Oriental Star Agencies)
Religious leaders in Indian administered Kashmir
have sought a ban on a pop song by two Pakistani
singers.
A line in the song, Kachi Pencil (Fragile
Pencil), says God has written the fate of man
with a fragile pencil.
The song has become popular with people across
the disputed state, despite the protests by
enraged clerics who say God would never do such a
thing.
They have threatened to take to the streets in
protest at the song, which is sung by Akram Rahi
and Naseebo Lal.
'Blasphemous'
The BBC's Binoo Joshi in Jammu says the song has
become all the rage with Kashmiri people for its
melody and lyrics.
But clerics in Jammu told the BBC it was blasphemous.
"There is no question of Allah [God] writing our
fate with a fragile pencil," said Moulvi Ghulam
Rasool, who appealed to those owning the cassette
to throw it away.
A similar message was given by other clerics at
several mosques across the area.
But our correspondent says that despite the
condemnation, the cassette is selling briskly.
"I play the cassette in my bus as it is popular
with the passengers," one local bus driver said.
______
[7]
Hindustan Times, August 3, 2004
DSE TENSE OVER EXHIBITION
HTC
New Delhi, August 3
Delhi School of Economics plunged into tension on
Monday with activists of All India Gilani Defence
Committee having a face-off with ABVP members.
The Gilani Defence Committee was to hold a poster
exhibition titled "Lies of our times" at the
Sociology Seminar room of the DSE on Monday
afternoon. "The Sociology department withdrew
permission at the last minute. This is very
unfortunate and violates our democratic rights,"
said DU teacher Tripta Wahi.
However, former DUSU president Nakul Bharadwaj of
the ABVP welcomed the cancellation of permission.
"The exhibition would have been anti-national,"
said Bharadwaj. Activists of both the Gilani
Defence Committee and the ABVP raised slogans
amid the heavy downpour.
____
[8] [Book Review]
Frontline
Volume 21 - Issue 16, Jul. 31 - Aug. 13, 2004
BOOKS
The quest for peace
C.T. KURIEN
Peace studies: An Introduction to the Concept,
Scope and Themes, edited by Ranabir Samaddar;
Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2004; pages 445,
Rs.448.
THE word peace almost immediately brings to mind
images of negotiations, ceasefire, disarmament -
all related to war. Peace and war or war and
peace thus go together, possibly because the
atrocities of war are more easy to envisage than
the attributes of peace. But the notion of peace
as the mere absence of war is a minimalist
concept, declares the book under review. In
recent years, a significant corpus of scholarly
work has emerged which challenges the limited
approach to peace. Adopting a broader approach,
these studies seek to link peace with issues of
justice, dignity, dialogue and reconciliation.
They emphasise the need to take account of
historical, political and civilisational
specificities of nations and peoples in
understanding both peace and conflict.
Such a comprehensive quest for peace is the theme
of the volume. It is the first of four volumes to
be brought out. The ones to follow are: "Peace
Accords and Peace Processes", "Women and Peace
Politics", and "Human Rights, Human Rights
Institutions and Humanitarian Crisis", all four
specifically related to South Asia.
The introductory volume consists of 19 essays
divided into three sections - "Defining Peace
Studies", "Borders, Wars and People", "Conflict
Situations, Dialogue and Peace". Cutting across
the sections and individual essays, I shall
comment on selected themes.
The first thing that strikes one in going through
the volume is a dilemma inherent in the approach.
On the one hand, the maximalist concept of peace
that the volume strives to project and defend has
to be in terms of what may be referred to as
universals - justice, dignity, equality, human
rights and reconciliation. On the other hand, the
quest for peace will become a vague chase unless
it is related to the lives and conditions of
people which makes it necessary to situate it in
a specific geographical area, in this case South
Asia. The task, therefore, is to trace the
universals in a specific locale, not merely
geographically but in terms of "the historical,
political and civilisational specificities of
people". Therein lies the dilemma.
One way to evaluate the volume will be to see how
it handles this dilemma, an inevitable one. Both
the universals and the specifics are dealt with.
The universals stand out prominently in the
editor's preface, in the introduction and in the
concluding essay, "Between Revenge and
Reconciliation". Practically in all other
chapters the accent is on South Asia.
That, however, leads to a problem. South Asia
consists of a number of independent states and -
unfortunately - the relationships among the
states are noted primarily for tensions,
disputes, conflicts and wars. Consequently, even
when committed to the maximal concept of peace,
the main body of the treatment gets reduced to
the minimal concept. Not surprisingly, Kashmir
becomes the central piece - the inter-state
dispute, conflicts and fights. In fact, there is
the firm assertion: "In short, the essential
question of peace and concord in South Asia is
tied to Kashmir and the aspirations of its
people." Other South Asian themes dealt with are
the India-China dispute and the India-Bangladesh
dispute.
This is not a negative observation. These
disputes are dealt with not only as matters of
state, but as the live experience of people.
Thus, the India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir is
treated as it impacts the lives of innocent men,
women and children. No matter what the political
issues and legal settlements are when the old
princely state of Kashmir becomes partly the
Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir and partly
Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, those who lived
together as neighbours and friends suddenly
become members of two hostile nations through no
fault of theirs. Even families get divided.
Natural and normal contacts come to be viewed
with suspicion, as clandestine contacts with "the
enemy". And those who are suspected become
enemies within, more dangerous than enemies
without, and are treated accordingly. So "wars
between states are giving way to wars within
states", leading to various forms of violence by
the state.
A VERY poignant piece in the book has the title
"Women across borders in Kashmir - the continuum
of violence". When fighting erupts, the women not
only face the military onslaughts, but they live
in fear of their bodies being violated. Even
attempts to protect them are not without adverse
effects. From scenes of conflict women and
children are usually moved to "safe places" where
they live in crowded temporary sheds, without
adequate clothing, bedding and cooking facilities.
The condition of young women who become widows is
even more pathetic. There is usually a monetary
compensation, but the money meant for the widow
rarely reaches her. Sometimes "kind"
intermediaries take a cut; more frequently men in
her own family take it away from her for "safe
keeping". In other instances, where there are
male relations, force is used to marry her off to
one of them so that the money remains within the
family.
Another manifestation of the human tragedy
associated with war and war-like situations is
the forced migration of people within countries
and across national boundaries as witnessed, for
instance, immediately after Partition and before
and after East Pakistan became Bangladesh. Such
migrations give rise to the problem of refugees
and their rehabilitation. Apart from unsettling
human lives directly, this kind of forced
migration has other implications related to
peace. The phenomenon is usually triggered by
threats and violence by one group against another
based on religious, linguistic and cultural
considerations. One group, thus, succeeds in
driving out another and the driven-out group
carries with it feelings of humiliation and
hatred which find expression wherever its members
go. The bitterness of refugees even towards those
who try to rehabilitate them is well known. Even
when former refugees succeed in rehabilitating
themselves in a new situation, they are known to
carry with them the sense of venom. The political
arena in our country provides several instances
of this kind.
The threat to peace can, therefore, arise from
unexpected quarters and at unguarded moments. It
may be domestic; may be across borders. Religion,
language and politics may all contribute to it.
But in our time borders between countries play a
prominent role in violations of peace. With
special reference to South Asia, a historian
recalls in the volume that migrations of people
from one part of the region to another were quite
common without threat to peace. It is well known
that during the Vedic period there were movements
of people from Central Asia to many parts of
South Asia. There were movements of the Mangoloid
and Turkic peoples across the Karakoram into the
high Himalayan ranges. Similarly, peoples from
the Gangetic plains moved to Nepal, those from
Yunnan in China to Assam, from Ayodhya to Sri
Lanka and so on. The Kabuliwallahs seen in
Bengali writings are descendants of those who
moved from Afghanistan to the Bengal region in
days past.
Such natural movements continued until nation
states became the order of the day, first in
Europe and then taken by the Europeans to other
parts of the world, including Asia. And the Asian
continent "was mapped in border lines - the
Durand Line between Pakistan and Afghanistan
which the Afghans still do not accept, the Mac
Mohan Line between India and China along
watersheds most of which had not been seen or
walked along by Europeans or Chinese". How
chaotic and crazy the borders are can be seen in
northeastern India. From West Bengal one moves
east to Bangladesh and east from Bangladesh again
to the Indian territory and beyond that to
Myanmar. The people in the territory between
Bangladesh and Myanmar are Indian nationals, but
different peoples who have not stopped fighting
among themselves. Borders become fertile grounds
for tension and war between nations, but do not
prevent conflicts within.
But nation states with their borders are here to
stay. Within them and across them there are
communities of various sorts with their
boundaries which, in some instances, are weaker
than national borders but in others far stronger
and more rigid. This is true of South Asia; it is
true of the whole world. Under such conditions
how can the quest for maximal peace - or even
minimal peace - be maintained and directed? The
volume poses this question, and is far from
providing an answer. But then it is only the
first in a series and it shows that it is worth
waiting for the ones to come.
______
[9]
INVITATION
Convention
Demanding justice to the TADA victims
And
Withdrawal of TADA and POTA cases
Speakers
Arundhati Roy, Anand Swaroop Verma, Abani Roy,
Dipankar Bhattacharya, Devarajan, Gautam Navlakha
Justice Rajinder Sachar, Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Kuldeep Nayar,
Nandita Haksar, Prakash Karat, Prashant Bhushan,
Sanjay Parekh, Siddarth Varadarajan, Sumit Chakrabarti,
Tripta Wahi, Uma Chakravarty
6 August 2004,
4.00p.m.- 8.00p.m.
Speaker's Hall,
Constitutional Club [New Delhi, India]
Dear friend,
You would be appalled to learn that POTA's dreaded
predecessor TADA, which is supposed to have lapsed in 1995, continues to be
selectively resurrected for political victimisation, even today. In a
shocking case, 14 persons were sentenced to life imprisonment as terrorists
by the TADA court of Jehenabad, subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court on
2 April 2004, the only evidence for which was their possession of easily
available Marxist literature!
The 14 accused in the Bhadasi case are social-political
activists and rural poor from Arwal district of Bihar, who have been
involved in struggles against inequality and injustice. The threat to
political expression with the use of black laws, including lapsed laws, to
crush dissent stands obvious. The violations of basic human rights under
black laws like TADA also stand exposed, as two of those sentenced in the
case were children of 13 and 14, when TADA cases slapped against
them.
However, this is not one odd case, TADA trials continue in
various parts of the country even today. In another trial in Jehenabad,
Bihar , in what is known as the Mehandia TADA case, 17 agricultural
labourers are being tried under TADA for engaging in wage struggle. It is
but obvious that such laws are meant to erase the difference between
democratic protest and terrorism.
Today, popular protests and outrage has managed to bring to
the public eye the violations on democratic rights by POTA. The current
government has also indicated its willingness to repeal it, however, it is
too soon to believe and relax that the lost democracy under POTA would be so
easily restored. The question remains, what happens to people who have
been hunted down under it? Why should the people booked under the black laws
be allowed to face the ghosts of these dreaded acts during the trials? How
is it that resistance to oppression by socially and economically oppressed
sections of society continues to be labelled as acts of terrorism and
draconian laws, including lapsed ones like TADA, continue
to be invoked against them.
To unite in our struggle against the violations of the
democratic rights of the people with black laws, to highlight cases of
violations of human rights with lapsed laws like TADA, to draw attention to
the continued use of black laws for crushing dissent and the victimisation
of socially and economically oppressed sections and to demand the withdrawal
of cases under TADA and POTA, we invite you to come and express your
solidarity at the convention on 6th August 2004.
With warm regards
Radhika Menon
Forum for Democratic Initiative (FDI)
9868038981
______
[10]
Date: Wed, 04 Aug 2004 15:45:19 +0800
THE SCHOLAR OF PEACE FELLOWSHIPS
Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP) invites
applications from South Asian professionals and scholars under the age of 45
for its Scholar of Peace Fellowships awarded for academic research, media
and special projects. WISCOMP is a South Asian research and training
initiative that seeks to promote an inclusive, gender sensitive discourse on
issues related to peace and security in South Asia.
The Scholar of Peace Fellowship programme encourages innovative,
multi-disciplinary, theoretical engagement and research on issues that
emerge at the intersection of the dicourses on gender, security and conflict
transformation. These areas include human security, conflict resolution,
mutli-track peace initiatives, gender and peacebuilding, terrorism, regional
cooperation, religious and ethnic conflict, human rights, diversity and
coexistence, governance et al. The focus in on the projects that explore the
interface between gender and these issues, within the terrain of
peacebuilding and new and emergeing formulations of security.
The fellowships cover a period ranging from three months to one year. The
last date for receipt of applications is Sept. 15, 2004. Please download the
application form from our website: www.furhhdl.org by clicking on the WISCOMP
link or write to:
WISCOMP
Foundation for Universal Responsibility
Of His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Core 4A, UGF, India Habitat Centre
Lodhi Road, New Delhi- 110024, India
Ph.: 91-11-24648450 (Ext. 112) Fax: 91-11-24648451
Email: info.wiscomp at furhhdl.org, wiscomp at vsnl.com
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
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