SACW | 23 Sep 2004

[sacw]

South Asia Citizens Wire  |  23 September,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net

=======

[1] Pakistan: Multi Mullah Alliance versus the 
Constitution (Editorial, Daily Times)
[2] Pakistan India: Sparring over a seat (Praful Bidwai)
[3] Pakistan, India & Kashmir: Clear the air (Balraj Puri)
[4] India's Alternative Film Movement Defies 
Censors to Impact Change (Divya Chandel)
[5] Publication Announcement -India: book for 
children on prejudice, superstition and violence 
"The Winning Team by Githa Hariharan"
[6] India: Letter to the Editor (Mukul Dube)
[7] India: Anhad /IHRLN Workshops on Communalism 
(Calcutta, September 25 & 26, 2004 | 
Secunderabad,October 2,3, 2004)


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

[1]

The Daily Times
September 23, 2004

EDITORIAL: MMA VERSUS THE CONSTITUTION

According to reports, the Council for Islamic 
Ideology (CII) declared at its 154th meeting in 
Islamabad on August 12-13 that the Hasbah Bill 
tabled by the MMA government in the NWFP violated 
the Constitution. It said: 'The proposed bill 
clashes with the Constitution, Article 175 [3], 
which concerns the independence of the judiciary. 
The proposed Hasbah institution will not achieve 
the purposes of Shariah. It will instead raise 
controversies over the teachings of Quran and 
Sunnah, and certain ambiguities in Clause 23 of 
the bill would make their implementation 
dependent on the mohtasib and the Hasbah force'. 
An eight-point recommendation on the issue was 
passed unanimously by the Council.
The CII also criticised Clause 3 [1] of the bill 
for politicising the ombudsman's office by 
allowing the chief minister to appoint him - a 
power that must rest with the governor, it 
argued. It also held that the advisory council 
and reconciliation committees placed alongside 
the ombudsman will affect his freedom and put him 
under political pressure. The recommendation 
stated: "The mohtasib should not be told whom he 
needs to consult on issues". It noted that the 
mohtasib and ombudsman offices were already 
enforcing Hasbah at the centre and in the Punjab, 
Balochistan and Sindh. It recommended that the 
institution of ombudsman or mohtasib be extended 
to the NWFP instead of enforcing the Hasbah Bill. 
The appointment of ombudsman in districts and 
tehsils needlessly duplicates offices already 
included in the North West Frontier Province 
Local Government Ordinance, 2001. It opined that 
the Supreme Judicial Council should have the 
authority to remove ombudsmen and to bar 
extensions to their tenure so that their 
decisions were not influenced.
The Hasbah Bill controversy began with the MMA 
government's plan to replicate in the NWFP the 
reign of the Taliban in Afghanistan through the 
imposition of a peripatetic justice-dispensing 
institution. Those who recall the Taliban system 
of Amr bil Maaruf will know that punishments were 
awarded on the spot to people the judge thought 
were guilty of violations of the Shariah. On the 
pretext of 'enforcing Allah's system in Allah's 
world', the NWFP government drafted a law, called 
the Hasbah Bill. Under Article 131 (a) of the 
Constitution, the bill was sent to the governor 
of the province. The governor raised a number of 
objections to its clauses and asked the chief 
minister to amend them to bring the law in line 
with the Constitution. This went on for over a 
year, but the chief minister and the governor 
could not arrive at an agreed text.
What might the proposed mohtasib-judge under the 
Hasba law have done or achieved? The bill gave 
him a large number of powers. Half a dozen of 
them would give the citizens an idea about how 
'transformational' the law was purported to be: 
he would monitor adherence to the moral values of 
Islam at public places; he would ensure respect 
and regard at the times of iftar and taravih; he 
would discourage extravagance and beggary; he 
would discourage entertainment shows and business 
transactions during Eid and Friday prayers; he 
would remove the causes of negligence in the 
maintenance of mosques; he would discourage all 
un-Islamic social values; and he would deal with 
those found to be disobedient to their parents. 
In short, Hasbah was going to be a catch-all law 
meant to satisfy the emotion of revenge rather 
than justice in conditions of freedom.
The MMA government in Peshawar has encountered 
difficulties in enforcing its brand of Shariah 
through administrative measures. Its order that 
namaz be strictly enforced in specially 
designated areas in all business houses and 
shopping malls stops short of laying down the 
pain of punishment. The government says it will 
not use coercion but everyone knows that coercion 
and punishment will come later once the MMA has 
consolidated its power and the centre becomes 
weak. In the 1990s, when the centre was weak, a 
similar Shariah movement sprang up in Malakand. 
Pakistan was punished for not taking timely 
action against it in the shape of thousands of 
youth that the movement sent illegally to 
Afghanistan to 'fight the Americans' in 2001. 
Over 3,000 of them are said to have perished.
What the MMA cannot achieve through legislation, 
it is now trying to realise by setting up its own 
NGOs to enforce its own version of Shariah. It 
has chosen the district of Nowshehra to stage 
what might be termed its 'pilot project' on 
Shariah. The proposed salat committees have no 
legal mandate and are actually NGOs functioning 
with full backing from the MMA government in 
Peshawar. This is clearly an attempt to get the 
Hasbah Bill enforced through other means. 
Islamabad must intervene at this stage when 
public objection to such unconstitutional 
religious coercion is in its early intense stage. 
The small opposition in the NWFP assembly has 
protested, but there is no representation of the 
shopkeepers of Peshawar who are harassed by the 
MMA's pro-Taliban reform.
The NWFP government has shown discrimination 
against all kinds of entertainment. Musicians and 
singers once popular in the city have moved to 
other parts of Pakistan. Posters and hoardings 
carrying women's likenesses have been disfigured 
and the cinemas are under severe pressure. So far 
the MMA has been allowed to act freely in the 
NWFP, but this laissez faire is affecting other 
parts of the country. Down in Punjab, centres of 
entertainment are under pressure from the MMA 
clerics. In Gujranwala, entertainment programmes 
have been attacked by vigilante groups and in 
Faisalabad there is a movement to bring down the 
cinema houses. If the MMA is permitted to 
encroach on the constitutional freedoms in the 
NWFP, the rest of Pakistan may eventually come to 
reel under its impact. This must not be allowed 
to happen. It would be the death-knell of General 
Pervez Musharraf's vision of "enlightened 
moderation". *

______

[2]


The News International - September 23, 2004

SPARRING OVER A SEAT
by Praful Bidwai


As we await the outcome of tomorrow's meeting 
between President Musharraf and Prime Minister 
Singh, a discordant note has crept into 
India-Pakistan exchanges. India's announcement of 
its plan to lobby concertedly, with Brazil, 
Germany and Japan, for a permanent seat on the 
United Nations Security Council has drawn a 
sharply negative Pakistani response. Pakistan's 
ambassador to the UN, Munir Akram, says Islamabad 
"would do everything possible to thwart India's 
attempts..."

Akram first reiterated Pakistan's long-standing 
opposition to any expansion of the Security 
Council's five-member permanent group (P-5), but 
then added: "If we have to choose, we will 
support Germany and Japan against India". Two 
factors seem to be at work: knee-jerk opposition 
to a larger global role for India, and diplomatic 
pressure from Germany and Japan, whose foreign 
ministers visited Pakistan in July and August.

Pakistan's stiff opposition to India's search for 
a larger world role appears to be rooted in 
instinctive rivalry and a "zero-sum" calculus: 
India and Pakistan should logically cut each 
other down to size.

The operational issue for the moment is: How 
valuable is a permanent Security Council seat? Is 
it in the interest of global security that the 
Council be expanded without being reformed? Is 
Tony Blair right in saying, as he did on Monday: 
"For India not to be represented on the Security 
Council is, I think, something that is not in 
tune with ... modern times..."? Will India gain 
in stature and influence by acquiring a permanent 
seat?

Some sobering thoughts are in order. Take first 
an interesting contrast between India's new 
self-assertion and its just-announced reversal of 
its 2003 decision to refuse bilateral aid from 
most countries. It will now accept assistance 
from all G-8 countries, and the European Union, 
including its non-G-8 members, provided they give 
an annual minimum of $25 million. The earlier 
hubris, enhanced by peevishness at the EU's 
demarches over the Gujarat pogrom, has given way 
to acknowledgement that India needs external 
assistance.

This is unsurprising. India has a rank of 127 in 
the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). 
Its per-capita income is a mere $487, or less 
than one-tenth the global average. (Even in 
purchasing-power parity, it is one-third the 
world average.) India's lofty ambition is not 
matched by its poverty, general backwardness, and 
aggregate economic size, which in absolute terms 
equals the Netherlands' (pop 16 million). A 
Council seat won't redress this mismatch.

Nor is a Council seat the best index of 
international standing. Britain, France and 
Russia are declining powers despite being in the 
P-5. There is nearly as much disproportion 
between, say, Pakistan and India's 
nuclear-weapons status and their political 
weight, as between Council membership and 
leadership in politics, economy or culture.

In today's world, "soft power" probably matters 
than "hard" military power. Nations are often 
respected more for their moral leadership and for 
what they have done for their citizens than for 
their might. For instance, Sweden, South Africa 
and Ireland - because they have endorsed good 
causes like peace. Norway (pop 4.5 million) 
commands prestige because of its steady Number 
One HDI rank and conflict-resolution role in 
Palestine-Israel and Sri Lanka.

Contrariwise, brute power is no guarantee of 
effective political authority. The United States' 
military superiority is unmatched in history. But 
the US is politically failing in Iraq, as it 
failed in Vietnam. During the critical February 
2003 debate over the "Second Resolution" on Iraq, 
the US's powers of persuasion, coercion and 
bribery could not recruit it the support it 
needed. Not just Pakistan, Mexico and Chile, but 
even Guinea, Cameroon and Angola (all extremely 
weak) defied Washington!

This does not argue that the Security Council is 
irrelevant - it proved relevant precisely when 
the US threatened to consign it to the dustbin of 
history - but that there are limits to its most 
privileged members' power. Wisdom lies in working 
within those limits - not equating Council 
membership with unbridled authority and 
legitimacy.

The Security Council, it bears recalling, failed 
to stop French and US interventions in Vietnam, 
the Korean War, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 
and many wars in Africa and Latin America. After 
the Cold War, it also failed in Bosnia and 
Rwanda. It is now disastrously failing in Sudan. 
It has proved shamefully ineffectual in bringing 
justice to Palestine.

These failures are largely attributable to lack 
of will on the part of the major powers to 
enforce peace and security. This won't change 
unless the Council is thoroughly reformed. Some 
elements of reform are obvious. The Council must 
be democratised and enlarged by giving more 
representation to the Global South. Vetoes must 
be eventually abolished. Its decision-making 
powers must be restructured, so the General 
Assembly gets greater authority. It won't do just 
to include Germany and Japan (which won't enhance 
the Council's credibility), nor even large 
Southern countries like India, Brazil, Nigeria 
and Indonesia. It would be better to have 
permanent seats for different regions, which are 
rotated among their members.

Some interesting proposals have also come from a 
Ford Foundation-Yale University working group 
(whose members were drawn from both North and 
South). One calls for enlarging the number of 
permanent (non-veto) members, while restricting 
use of the veto by the P-5 "only to peacekeeping 
and enforcement measures...[This] ... could be 
arranged by agreement among the P-5 and without 
Charter amendment..."

One major merit of this transitional idea is that 
it reduces the danger that the North will 
altogether derail reform. It is an urgent 
necessity to expand the General Assembly's role 
in security-related decision-making and empower 
the Economic and Social Council to oversee the 
working of the World Bank, IMF and World Trade 
Organisation. Other proposals have also been made 
for creating a "Second Chamber" of civil society 
organisations.

India could play a valuable role in promoting a 
dialogue for UN reform along these lines. That 
would be a major contribution to global 
governance. But that means returning to a 
Nehruvian vision of a peaceful and just world 
order and seizing moral leadership, while 
abandoning a search for glory through 
military-political-economic power.

Pakistan, too, should promote UN reform. That 
would be in its own (and the world's) long-term 
interest. By obsessively opposing India's bid for 
a Council seat, Pakistan will have negated that 
possibility. The time has come for Pakistanis to 
ask whether their main global preoccupation 
should be to seek parity with India, or failing 
that cut India down. Size and location, as well 
as the existence of a stable democracy, may have 
put India in a different league. There is nothing 
wrong with accepting that in a spirit of 
generosity and friendship - in order to promote a 
common global democratic agenda.


______


[3]

The Hindustan Times - September 23, 2004 | Op-Ed.

CLEAR THE AIR
Balraj Puri
September 22

Manipur has reminded us again that human rights 
violations are the surest way to alienate people 
and consolidate mass support for insurgents. This 
is true of Kashmir as well. Earlier, when the 
Hurriyat Conference was united, its leaders had 
complained that by raising the human rights 
issue, attention was being diverted from the 
azadi movement. People were also led to believe 
that some human sacrifices were inevitable for 
the cause.

Now when azadi is no more round the corner, 
separatist groups and mainstream parties vie with 
one another to protest against incidents of human 
rights violation. Thus, when the alleged torture 
of a female student by the police in Handwara on 
July 9 came to light, there were large-scale 
protest demonstrations. Forest Minister Sofi 
Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din, who belongs to the area, 
offered to resign if he failed to get the 
culprits punished. Within two days, three special 
police officers (SPOs) were dismissed and two 
police officers were attached even as an inquiry 
was ordered.

Pakistan's main plank on Kashmir at international 
fora has been the issue of human rights. India, 
on the other hand, lays the blame for the turmoil 
in the state on cross-border terrorism. In 
reality, terrorism and human rights violations 
are not two different phenomena. Their victims 
may, however, be different. While ceasefire 
between the armed forces and militants may again 
be attempted and pressure may continue to be 
exercised on Pakistan to stop export of 
terrorism, the issue of innocent killings can be 
isolated from other killings. It can be tackled 
through mobilisation of opinion within Kashmir, 
in the rest of the world and even within Pakistan.

As a person who has been monitoring human rights 
violations in Kashmir since the start of 
militancy, I had no hesitation in exposing 
excesses of the security forces, which were more 
pronounced in the first phase. Such excesses 
alienated the people, defamed India abroad and 
undermined the morale of the forces. But while 
the activities of the human rights activists, 
national and state human rights commissions, 
independent judiciary and free media helped in 
improving discipline among the forces, the new 
brand of militants, mostly non-Kashmiris who were 
more brutal, were under no discipline.

The latest phase of militancy, which started in 
1998, was marked by a series of mass killings - 
at Parankote in Udhampur district, Chapanari in 
Doda, Wandhama in Srinagar, Chattisinghpora in 
Pulwama, Nandimarg in Anantnag and Kaluchak, 
Rajiv Nagar and Sunjwan in Jammu. The death toll 
ranged from 25 to 35 in each case. Their only 
crime was that they were Hindus or Sikhs. At 
Kotchadwal in Rajouri and Marah in Poonch, 
militants killed 15 and 13 Muslims respectively, 
as they were suspected to be informers of 
security agencies. Other Muslims killed were 
members of mainstream parties and their 
relations. Even secessionist leaders, who 
developed differences with the Pakistan 
establishment, were not spared.

That human rights violations continue to be 
committed by either side is objectively recorded 
by the Amnesty International. According to its 
report 2003, the PDP-Congress administration had 
initially raised hopes that human rights 
violations in J&K would be a thing of the past. 
"However, soon afterwards there were reports from 
Baramulla that security forces opened unprovoked 
and indiscriminate fire killing one person and 
injuring two others. Since then, human rights 
abuses by the security forces and police have 
continue to be reported almost daily."

The report adds: "[These] persisted at high-level 
with a reported 344 civilians killed in a 
targeted and indiscriminate way. Torture, 
including rape and beating of the civilian 
population by members of armed political groups 
(militants), also continued to be reported 
throughout the year. They failed to abide by 
standards of international law and many civilians 
were killed as a result of indiscriminate 
violence... Militants were also reportedly 
involved in criminal activities, including 
extortion."

At one stage, separatist groups attributed the 
killings of innocent Hindus and Sikhs to the 
security forces "to defame the freedom movement". 
When militants killed four tourists at Pahalgam 
and an engineer of Indian Railways Construction 
International Limited and his brother in Pulwama 
and Maulvi Mushtaq, uncle of Mirwaiz Maulvi Umar 
Farooq, in Srinagar, the identity of the killers 
was evident to all. But when three buildings of 
an Islamic school run by Mirwaiz, along with rare 
documents and books, were set ablaze, there were 
oblique references to the culprits.

Eventually, differences developed even within the 
militant camp. When Harkat-ul-Mujahideen was 
involved in a case of torture and rape of one 
Mariam in Doda, the Hizbul Mujahideen is reported 
to have asked the reason. It was told, "You 
fellows are too soft. You start vomiting when we 
give such treatment to an informer. We know that 
Mariam was not an informer but her brother was."

Pakistan is becoming impatient for a solution to 
Kashmir. Instead of evading a discussion on 
Kashmir and human rights violations, India should 
insist on making it the first item of the agenda. 
It is time to relax a ban on Amnesty 
International work in J&K, at least on a 
case-to-case basis. A word of condemnation by 
such an organisation will carry far more weight 
in the rest of the world than a diplomatic 
campaign by the Indian government.

In the first phase, India and Pakistan should 
agree to condemn killings of non-combatant and 
unarmed civilians for their religious or 
political beliefs by either the militants or the 
security forces. This should be followed by 
similar condemnation of collateral damage in 
armed operations, that is killing of innocents in 
cross-firing or Eid blasts that are aimed at the 
security forces. Finally, complete withdrawal by 
the militants and the return of the army to the 
barracks. Then would the stage be set for a 
discussion on the political aspects of the 
problem.


______


[4]

OneWorld.net - Sep 22, 9:02 AM ET

INDIA'S ALTERNATIVE FILM MOVEMENT DEFIES CENSORS TO IMPACT CHANGE

Divya Chandel, OneWorld South Asia

NEW DELHI, Sept 22 (OneWorld) - A forum of over 
300 documentary filmmakers is campaigning for the 
right to freedom of expression in India's 
capital, New Delhi, screening over 60 powerful 
films, most of which were rejected by the 
country's draconian censor board.

Declaring September 2004 as the "Month of Free 
Speech," in protest against rising government 
censorship, the festival includes a package of 64 
films revolving around the themes of communalism, 
destructive development, globalization, the 
environment, womens rights and the oppression of 
marginalized communities.

Targeting the impressionable youth, the 
independent films are being screened in 
collaboration with academic departments and 
student bodies in three of Delhi's most 
prestigious universities ? the Delhi University, 
the Jamia Millia Islamia and the Jawahar Lal 
Nehru University.

The package of 64 films was drawn from Vikalp 
(Alternative), a film festival that ran parallel 
to an International Film Festival held in India's 
film capital, Mumbai, in February 2004, called 
the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF).

It screened a slew of documentaries rejected by 
MIFF, as a mark of protest against the mandatory 
precondition of censor certificates for Indian 
documentaries demanded by India's ministry of 
Information and Broadcasting.

Explains documentary filmmaker Rahul Roy, "It 
made sense to sustain the movement (that began 
with MIFF) and enlarge the debate on censorship 
that affects not just filmmakers but the common 
man. A festival such as this widens our platform."

The festival took-off this month with a three-day 
seminar appropriately titled "Resisting 
Censorship/Breaking Silences and Celebrating 
Freedom of Expression," where filmmakers, media 
persons, activists and students engaged in a 
heated debate on issues ranging from the rights 
of sex workers; womens movements and the media; 
to censorship and hate speech; privatization, 
censorship and the judiciary.

One of the most controversial rejected 
documentaries on view is the poignant "A Night of 
Prophecy" by noted documentary filmmaker Amar 
Kanwar, which depicts songs of protest signifying 
oppression, pain and broken promises in an 
unequal society.

Explains Kanwar, "Its a journey through different 
regions of India, which takes a look at its 
various problems as a nation like the issue of 
caste, class, poverty, nationality and terrorism."

Kanwar is the recipient of the Golden Conch (Best 
Film award) at the 1998 MIFF for his film "A 
Season Outside."

The filmmakers are protesting against India's 
1952 Cinematograph Act which regulates both the 
production and screening of films in the country. 
The Act empowers a Central Board of Film 
Certification to decide whether a film is 
suitable for restricted or unrestricted viewing.

Very often, the Board rejects avant garde films 
which depict stark social and political realities.

Slamming the censorship law as "extremely 
draconian," filmmaker Saba Dewan says people 
should be given the freedom to decide what they 
want to see.

As she protests, "A handful of people now decide 
what a nation of million should see. The law was 
introduced under the colonial regime and is 
outdated and archaic."

Explaining the rationale behind the restrictive 
law, Kanwar comments that, "Political parties 
have vested interests in preventing the truth 
from coming out. This was apparent by the fact 
that any film critical of the government would be 
rejected."

This is not to say that all the films screened in 
the festival were rejected. The MIFF accepted 
around 15 of them, but filmmakers withdrew them 
in solidarity with the rest.

The Campaign Against Censorship aims to reach the 
widest possible community of viewers to fight 
against censorship of all forms. The entire 
collection of documentaries will also travel to 
other Indian cities as a package, comprising 
post-screening discussions and interactive 
dialogues with the filmmakers.

"We are taking the films to whoever is interested 
and creating an energy for the movement," 
stresses filmmaker Anupama Srinivasan, one of the 
organisers of the event.

Predictably, given their provocative themes, many 
of the films have triggered violent protests from 
fundamentalists. For instance, members of the 
rightwing Hindu Jagran Manch (Hindu Awareness 
Group) tried to halt the public screening of a 
bold internationally acclaimed film called "Final 
Solution" in the south Indian city of Bangalore 
this July.

The documentary explores the anatomy of hate and 
violence between the Hindu majority and minority 
Muslims during the February 2002 riots in the 
western Indian city of Gujarat.

The festival has received an overwhelming 
response from university students. Claims one of 
the organizers, "People want to see and talk 
about the films and college auditoriums are 
always packed, forcing many enthusiastic viewers 
to return. We feel that a healthy, social and 
educational movement has emerged."

The filmmakers are keen to make the festival a 
recurring event rather than just a one-time 
affair.

Enthuses Dewan, "We have seen such possibilities 
emerge where we can work with people on issues 
related to real life and intervene as filmmakers 
to make a difference."


______



[5]      [Publication announcement]

Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004

Hi,
This book grew out of visits to schools I made 
with several other writers, artists, film makers 
and academics after the Gujarat communal killings 
in 2002. The school teachers felt there just 
weren't enough books for children that deal with 
prejudice, superstition and violence, and I have 
tried to deal with these themes in today's Indian 
context, and when possible, with humour. I would 
be delighted if you can use the book in any way 
to help our children see and understand our 
situation better.
best
Githa Hariharan

o o o

[Attached Note]

On behalf of the author, illustrator and Rupa 
Books, I am happy to announce the publication of 
The Winning Team on October 1, 2004.
Kapish Mehra
Rupa & Co.


The Winning Team
Written by Githa Hariharan
Illustrated by Taposhi Ghoshal

Once there was a storyteller who was out of work. 
He didn't know how it had happened - but he no 
longer had anyone to tell his stories to.

But luckily for Kahani Bhai (also called Bhai K), 
he finds the best audience in the world - the 
winning team of friends, Nasira, Gopal, Akbari, 
Veer, Dulari and Ram. And like magic, or like the 
kahaniwala he really is, all the old stories 
crowding Bhai K's mind, all the happy, clever and 
funny faces - of Tenali Raman, Naseeruddin Hodja, 
Gopal Bhar, Birbal - change into people he knows. 
Knows as well as the children sitting around him, 
in the city he lives in, near the villages and 
towns he has seen with his own eyes.  

Ten stories of the different kinds of people the 
winning team meet as they get into the stories, 
from Ramu the Boy Wonder, to the hill-moving 
Hodja, to the bald babus of Krishnapur, to Nasser 
the Ferryboy. And while the children find much to 
puzzle them or make them sad, they always find 
laughter. Laughter, which can never be banned. 
They find laughter, new friends, and cause for 
celebration, because there are so many different 
people and stories in their India.

Githa Hariharan has written several highly 
acclaimed novels, including the prizewinning The 
Thousand Faces of Night and the more recent In 
Times of Siege. She has also co-edited, with 
Shama Futehally, a collection of stories for 
children, Sorry, Best Friend! 
Like many children she knows, she feels that our 
old stories will remain just that -- old stories 
-- if we don't make them up all over again so 
they speak to us and give us joy.


______


[6]  [Letter to the Editor]

Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 18:49:25 +0530

D-504 Purvasha
Mayur Vihar 1
Delhi 110091

22 September 2004

Truly the BJP can tell the trivial from the weighty. One hundred
of its MPs, who so recently declined to waste their time debating
the Finance Bill in Parliament, travelled to Port Blair to demand
that the honour be restored of the material object which for them
represents V.D. Savarkar. They were accompanied by 40 MLAs who
presumably wanted to educate themselves.

The admiration of the BJP's parent body, the RSS, for Savarkar
is clear from the reverential distance it always maintained from
him and his Hindu Mahasabha. For fear of putting its many feet in
its single mouth, it said nothing when he was being tried for
Gandhi's assassination. It took care not to compromise him
when it launched its political wing, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh,
even though that was headed by S.P. Mookerjee, formerly of the
Hindu Mahasabha. In his declining years, it thoughtfully left him
in the solitude he so eminently deserved.

Justice Jivanlal Kapur, who headed the Commission of Inquiry into
the Conspiracy to Murder Mahatma Gandhi, set up in 1965, examined
evidence and witnesses not available to the Court of Sessions at
the original trial. His findings were unambiguous: "All these
facts taken together were destructive of any theory other than
the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group."

How can the RSS-BJP possibly fail to beatify this heroic freedom
fighter, who freed them of none other than Gandhi, that arch
enemy of their Hindu Rashtra? Veer Mandirs should dot the
landscape: and maybe they will, for the constructors of heroes
can cobble together divinities too.

Mukul Dube


______


[7]

Workshop on Communalism and the Law

  Organizers: Human Rights Law Network & Anhad

  Venue: The Institute of Cooperative Management 
for Agriculture & Rural Development (ICMARD)
                   Block -14, CIT Scheme-VIII (M), 
Ultadanga Road, Kolkata 700 067

Date:  September 25 & 26, 2004

Programme

contact : hrln_cal at hotmail.com

Day - I-RESOURCE PERSON- HARSH MANDER

9.00 – 9.30

Introduction of Anhad and HRLN
9.30 –10.00
10.00 –10.15
10.15 –10.30
  Identity, Self and the Other
  Ten minutes from the docu-lecture by Sohail Hashmi
   Discussion
10.30 –11.00
11.00 – 11.15
11.15 – 11.30

Freedom Struggle and Formation of India
Fifteen minutes from the docu-lecture by Prof. Mridula Mukherjee
Discussion

11.30 – 12.00

Tea Break
12.00 – 12.30
12.30 – 12.50
12.50 – 1.15

Fascism
In Dark Times – Documentary by Gauhar Raza
Discussion

Lunch   :   1.15 – 2.00

2.00. –2.40
2.40 – 3.00

3.00 – 3.15

History and Ideology of the Sangh Parivar
Ten minutes each from Lalit Vanchani’s 
Documentary “ Men in the Tree”, Nivedita Menon’s 
docu-lecture and Prof. S.K.Thorat’s docu-lecture
Discussion
3.15 – 3.45
3.15 – 3.45
3.45 – 4.15

What is Secularism/ assault on secularism: education/history
Fifteen minutes each from Prof. Bipin Chandra’s 
and Rizwan Qaiser’s docu-lectures
Discussion – initiator:  Harsh Mander

4.15 – 4.30

Tea Break
4.30 –5.00
4.30.- 5.00
5.15 – 5.30

Myths

Ram Puniyani’s docu-lecture
Discussion- Initiator: Harsh Mander
5.30 –6.00

5.30 – 6.00

6.00 – 6.30
Defence of Secularism and the Constitution
Fifteen minutes each from Harsh Mander’s and Mihir Desai’s docu-lectures
Discussion- Initiator: Harsh Mander

6.30 –7.30

Tea Break/ informal discussion

DAY –  II

9.00 –10.00
Secularism and the law in India and abroad
Chairperson: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta

  10.00 – 12.00
Communal killings and the use of law
Sikh massacres in Delhi
Bombay carnage – 1992
Gujarat carnage – 2002
Attacks on Christians
Chairperson: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Moloy Kumar Sengupta


12.00 –1.00

Hate Speech and how the law has been / can be used

Chairperson : Sardar Amjad Ali, Senior Advocate, 
Calcutta High Court & President, Bar Association, 
Calcutta High Court

Lunch   : 1.00 – 2.00

2.00 – 3.00
Communalism in text books
Decisions of the courts / how the law can be used
Chairperson: Prof. Subhash Chakrabarty, Dept. of 
History, Presidency College, Kolkata

3.00 – 4.00
Role of human rights commissions/ inquiry commissions
Chairperson: Prof. Amit Sen, Member, West Bengal Human Rights Commission

TEA

4.00 – 5.00
Election matters: Hindutva as an election plank
Chairperson: Mr. Goutam Sen, senior political activist


5.00 – 6.00
Conversions and the law
Chairperson: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly


6.00 – 7.00
Discussion on using PILs to fight communalism, 
and the possibilities of doing PILs
Chairperson: Prof. D. Banerjee, The National 
University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata


o o o


OCTOBER 2,3, 2004

resource person for day I : PROF. RIZWAN QAISER

VENUE: HASS, SECUNDERABAD, NEAR SANGEET THEATRE, ANDHRA PRADESH

  Schedule for OCTOBER 2, 2004- ANHAD –FOR 
participation and second day’s schedule contact 
M.A.Vanaja ( 
<http://mail.yahoo.com/config/login?/ym/Compose?To=vanajamandya@yahoo.co.in>vanajamandya at yahoo.co.in) 
or Shakeel ( ma_shakeel at rediffmail.com)

9.00-9.30- Introduction of Anhad and HRLN

9.30-10.00- IDENTITY, SELF AND THE OTHER
10.00-10.15- Ten minutes from Docu-lecture by Sohail Hashmi
10.15-10.30- Discussion

10.30-11.00- FREEDOM STRUGGLE AND FORMATION OF INDIA
11.00-11.15- Fifteen minutes from Docu-lecture by Prof. Mridula Mukherjee
11.15-11.30- Discussion

11.30-12.00- TEA BREAK

12.00-12.30- FASCISM
12.30- 12.50- In Dark Times- Documentary by Gauhar Raza
12.50-1.15- discussion

1.15-2.00- LUNCH

2.00-2.40- HISTORY AND IDEOLOGY OF THE SANGH PARIVAR
2.40-3.00- Ten mnts each from Lalit Vachani’s 
documentary ‘Men in the Tree’, Nivedita Menon’s 
lecture Docu –lecture and Prof. SK Thorat’s 
docu-lecture

3.00-3.15- Discussion

WHAT IS SECULARISM/ ASSAULT ON SECULARISM: Education/ History
3.15-3.45- Fifteen minutes from Prof. Bipin 
Chandra and Fifteen mnts from Rizwan Qaiser’s 
docu-lecture
3.45-4.15- DISCUSSION INITIATED BY PROF. RIZWAN QAISER

4.15-4.30- TEA BREAK

MYTHS

4.30-5.00- Ram Puniyani’s docu-lecture
5.15-5.30- DISCUSSION INITIATED BY PROF. RIZWAN QAISER

DEFENCE OF SECULARISM AND CONSTITUTION
5.30-6.00- Fifteen mnts from Harsh Mander’s 
docu-lecture and fifteen mnts from Mihir Desai’s 
lecture
6.00-6.30- DISCUSSION INITIATED BY PROF. RIZWAN QAISER
6.30-7.30- TEA BREAK/ INFORMAL DISCUSSION CONTINUES
7.30 ONWARDS- FILM- FINAL SOLUTION – FOR THOSE WHO STAY BACK FOLLOWED BY DINNER



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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 
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