SACW | 19 Oct 2004

[sacw]

South Asia Citizens Wire   |  19 October,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net

[1] Sri Lanka:   Broadening The Discourse On 
Peace and Security (Asoka Bandarage)
[2] India:  Doctor Love, Doctored Hate (Aman Khanna)
[3] India: Congress Win in Maharashtra Seen as 
Triumph for Secularism (Ranjit Devraj)
[4] Indian History Congress to counter 
'saffronised history' (Pranava K Chaudhary)
[5] India: Appeal for Gujarat Student
[6] Upcoming events :
i) Communalism and violence - Sikh massacres, 20 
years on (New Delhi, October 19)
ii) Lift ban on Gujarat film: Press Conference 
cum Protest Meet (Bombay, October 20)
iii) Seminar on 'Women's Movement for the 21 st 
Century' (New Delhi, October 21)
iv) A lecture and discussion entitled "In the 
Wake of the Gujarat Pogrom: Reflections on 
Contemporary India" with Harsh Mander (Los 
Angeles, November 13, 2004)


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

[1]

SRI LANKA: BROADENING THE DISCOURSE ON PEACE AND SECURITY
by
Prof. Asoka Bandarage

(Text of a Talk presented at a session sponsored 
by The Society for International Development, 
Washington Chapter on September 23, 2004. The 
talk was attended by many policymakers and 
practitioners from the diplomatic, academic, NGO 
and state sectors in Washington D.C.)

[Full text of the above paper (39k) is now 
available via SACW to all interested. Should you 
require a copy send an e-mail to 
<aiindex at mnet.fr> ]

______



[2]


Tehelka,
  October 23, 2004

DOCTOR LOVE, DOCTORED HATE

A Hindu girl eloped and married her Muslim 
neighbour in a poor Delhi colony. Muslim families 
have fled after the Shiv Sena and RSS threatened 
retaliation. The police offer no protection, 
reports Aman Khanna

[Photo and Caption:] condemned in love: Neetu Verma

All the houses look the same in Sonia Vihar in 
east Delhi: bare, uneven brick structures held 
together more by fate than by cement. Well, 
almost all. Huge padlocks hang limply on some of 
the hollowed wooden doors. The dwellers have 
abandoned their homes of many years. Their 
prized, cheap belongings - a charpoy, a trunk 
hither or thither, a few utensils - can still be 
seen through the cracks in the walls. The 
overgrowth outside is steadily thickening.

The abandoned houses belong to Muslims in Sonia 
Vihar. Most of them have been forced out of the 
colony. Thrown out because a young boy from their 
community dared to elope with a Hindu girl. "They 
were all involved. It is for the best they have 
fled," says the local Shiv Sena leader, Anand 
Trivedi.

Last month, Neetu Verma ran away and married 
28-year-old Mohammed Abid. The two families were 
living cheek by jowl on the second floor of a 
rented house. On the morning of September 20, 
2004, Neetu's parents found her missing; so was 
the boy next door.

Her parents claim Neetu is still a minor, of the 
age of 14. "Our eldest daughter is barely 19. 
Neetu is our third child. How can we allow her to 
marry?" says Sushil Kaur, Neetu's mother.

That was enough for the Shiv Sena and the rss to 
get into action. Trivedi held meetings everyday 
in the local landlord's phone booth, calling all 
the Muslims - threatening them. His party workers 
marched around the neighbourhood, sloganeering. 
Trivedi himself boasts, "I declared in front of 
the sho (station house officer of the local 
police station), if our girl does not come back 
in seven days, I will set all your (Muslim) 
houses on fire, with you in them."

"In all of two days I had the investigating 
officer changed. Earlier, a Kapil Ahmed was in 
charge. You tell me, how can one let a Muslim 
handle such a case?" he continues.

Within a day of the two going missing, Abid's 
mother was hauled to the local police station for 
questioning. Followed by other members of the 
family. At the same time, a first investigation 
report (fir) was filed against Abid.
"Muslims are running a huge conversion campaign. 
If you turn a girl Muslim, you turn the future 
generations Muslim. They give a grant of Rs 
40,000 to each boy who whisks away a Hindu girl. 
They even offer legal help and a safe haven"
- Anand Trivedi

Slowly, with each passing day, Muslims started 
fleeing the neighbourhood. First went the boy's 
family; then those who were loosely related to 
Abid. Then came the turn of those who hail from 
the same district. And now everyone is seeking 
safer ground.

A Muslim labourer, who lives close to Neetu's 
house, pleads, "They told us 'either bring the 
girl back or you will have to pay for it'." "I am 
a heart-patient, I have diabetes," the old man 
says, showing the rashes on his arms and legs, 
"How can I stand up to their threats? My sons 
come back late in the night; Allah knows when 
they will be stabbed. The police said, 'you can 
die today for all we care.' I am thinking of 
selling my house and leaving."

Sonia Vihar is an unauthorised colony, spread 
over about 4 sq km, on Delhi's border with Uttar 
Pradesh. The roads here have given way to sludge 
and knee-deep potholes. Most of the residents are 
poor labourers, who travel more than 20 km 
everyday to Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi to find 
work. And only 15-20 percent are Muslims.

In such circumstances, it is easy for the Shiv 
Sena and Trivedi to throw their weight around. 
The right-wing Hindu group's signboards can be 
seen at various points from the approach road. 
The chief, Trivedi, is a small-built man who 
visibly takes delight in being the troublemaker. 
"I have handled 15 such cases in the past. Just 
yesterday, another case of a Muslim boy eloping 
with a Hindu girl came to me. Though, there the 
girl is no more a minor, we cannot let Muslims' 
conversion plan go through."
In Sonia Vihar, he has been spreading rumours 
about the Muslim community: "they want to open a 
madrasa in the area; and then convert everyoneŠ 
After they left, we have come to know one of them 
was a criminal."

He says Neetu's eloping with Abid is a part of a 
deeper conspiracy. "Muslims are running a huge 
conversion campaign. If you turn a girl Muslim, 
you turn the future generations Muslim. They give 
a grant of Rs 40,000 to each boy who whisks away 
a Hindu girl. They even offer legal help and a 
safe haven," says Trivedi.
All Hindus in Sonia Vihar have started believing 
this absurd theory. Sunder Singh Kanwar, a 
general store owner, says, "They put Neetu in a 
tranceŠ It was all planned. How else can all the 
families disappear so soon?"

The fir filed by Neetu's parents came up for 
hearing in the nearby Karkardooma court. On the 
day of the first hearing, Trivedi dropped by with 
about 80 goons. "We tore off Neetu's burqa right 
there in the court," brags Trivedi, "And had it 
not been for police intervention, we would have 
brought her back forcibly."

In the two hearings held yet, Neetu has declined 
to return to her parents' house. The judge has 
ordered a bone ossification test to determine her 
age. She, for now, has been sent to Nari Niketan 
by the judge. Yet, her parents and other members 
of the community are not convinced. "She is 
young; she doesn't know what is wrong and right," 
says her father, Kishan Kumar, and then, sounding 
like Trivedi, goes on to abuse the entire Muslim 
community.

Hafizur Rehman, a learned Muslim living in the 
area, says, "I was scared for days. I am still 
scared. I tell my sons everyday to walk with 
their heads down, not because of the fear, but 
because it is practical. We are less in number 
and we are vulnerable."

"In fact, there is an old saying in Urdu," Rehman concludes:

Kisne loota hai,
Kisne mara hai,
Halaat bataate hain,
Rehbar ka ishaara hai.

(Who ruined you, Who stabbed you, The order tells all, The leader directs it.)


______



[3]

Inter Press Service, October 18, 2004
INDIA:
Congress Win in Maharashtra Seen as Triumph for Secularism

Analysis - By Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Oct 18 (IPS) - The resounding 
electoral victory of Congress and its secular 
allies in the provincial elections in western 
Maharashtra state is being seen as an endorsement 
of the party's brand of politics that champions 
the poor - one that saw it return to national 
power in May after an eight-year hiatus.
It also provides confirmation that India's 
electorate is fed up of the communal politics of 
the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which 
was unseated from power in a shock electoral 
defeat - first in the May general elections and 
now in Maharashtra, the country's industrially 
most advanced state.
The Congress and its main ally the National 
Congress Party (NCP) and other groups that 
together put up a secular front secured 141 seats 
in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly while the 
BJP and its close ally, Shiv Sena (Shiva's Army), 
mustered just a total of 117.
''Over the last two years there has been a 
groundswell of opinion against the kind of 
politics being played out in Gujarat (state 
adjoining Maharashtra),'' said Shabnam Hashmi, a 
well-known human rights activist and leader of 
the ANHAD (Open Platform), in an interview with 
IPS on Monday.
Joining hands with some 50 other groups ANHAD 
campaigned aggressively across Maharashtra 
distributing leaflets and urging people to vote 
for secular parties. They also wanted them to 
reject the BJP and Shiv Sena.
''The response we got was tremendous with people 
saying that they did not want communal politics 
to spread from Gujarat into Maharashtra,'' said 
Hashmi.
Among the star campaigners for the BJP in 
Maharashtra was Gujarat's Chief Minister Narendra 
Modi who has been indicted by well-known rights 
groups for overseeing the anti-Muslim pogrom that 
raged for several months through his state in 
2002 leaving more than 2,000 people dead.
The shock defeat of the BJP and its right-wing 
allies in the May general elections was widely 
attributed to the failure of its top leadership, 
led by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, 
to effectively intervene in the violence and 
discipline Modi.
The BJP's demise from power politics was also 
attributed to the pro-rich policies of the 
Vajpayee government that tried to sell the idea 
of a ''Shining India'' campaign, which not only 
failed to capture the imagination of the 
country's poverty-stricken masses but also 
enraged them.
Far from learning lessons from the debacle, the 
BJP set about trying to win the elections in 
Maharashtra by trying to rake up pro-Hindu 
sentiments over imagined insults to the memory of 
Veer Savarkar.
Savarkar took part in India's anti-colonial 
struggle against British rule but wanted the 
country to become a Hindu state.
But the Congress and its allies retaliated, and 
it seems successfully, by airing serious 
allegations that Savarkar was part of the 
conspiracy to murder Mahatma Gandhi. They also 
blamed him for the historical events that led to 
the creation of Pakistan from a larger India in 
1947.
''We are disappointed with the results of the 
Maharashtra elections - we had hoped for a 
victory in that state,'' said BJP's national 
president Venkiah Naidu conceding defeat at a 
press conference on Monday.
Naidu also announced his resignation and the 
handing over of the reins of the party to Lal 
Krishna Advani best known for riding motorised 
chariots across the country and whipping up a 
pro-Hindu fervor that resulted in the 1992 
demolition of the 17th century Babri Masjid 
mosque in Ayodhya in northern Uttar Pradesh state.
The demolition of the Babri Masjid led to 
communal riots across the country between India's 
Hindu majority and Muslims who form 14 percent of 
the country's billion plus population.
Most affected by the new polarisation was the 
state of Maharashtra and its bustling capital of 
Mumbai on the Arabian sea, known for its 
cosmopolitan outlook and its prosperous Muslim 
merchants and businessmen.
Mumbai is also known for its textile mills - 
dating back to the British colonial era - which 
closed down as a result of economic 
restructuring. These mills are now being rapidly 
converted into shopping malls and business 
centers catering to the newly rich elites, while 
unemployed textile workers are left to build 
shacks outside their high walls in the hope of 
receiving compensation.
Earlier this year, in January, Mumbai played host 
to the World Social Forum (WSF) -- the first time 
it was held outside its original home of Porto 
Allegre in Brazil - where the problems of 
globalisation and the widening disparity of 
income between the rich and poor were aired and 
discussed.
On taking office in May, India's new Prime 
Minister Manmohan Singh, a former World Bank 
economist promised that while he would stick with 
India's commitment to globalisation, he would 
ensure that it has a human face to it - a key 
demand made by activists at the Mumbai WSF.
The Congress Party's return to power in New Delhi 
was the result of a new partnership it built with 
India's communist parties with the express 
purpose of defeating the BJP and its pro-Hindu 
politics. The partnership has worked well once 
again in Maharashtra.
''There is no doubt that the Congress alliance's 
triumph in the 14th general election and the 
consequent adoption of the National Common 
Minimum Programme sent out a positive message to 
voters in Maharashtra,'' commented the respected 
'Hindu' newspaper in an editorial on Monday.
The 'Hindu' attributed the win in Maharashtra to 
the fact that Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi 
personally campaigned in the elections and 
concentrated on livelihood issues.
''The huge crowds at Mrs. Gandhi's rallies (in 
Maharashtra) suggested that she had become 
something of a cult figure following her 
rejection of the prime minister's post,'' the 
'Hindu' editorial said referring to her 
unexpected renunciation of the top job after 
leading her party to its historic victory in May.
Said Hashmi: ''Everywhere we went in Maharashtra 
we found people longing for a return to the 
secular and egalitarian ideals on which this 
country was founded and the best expression of 
that is visible in the way they voted.'' 
(END/2004)



______


[4]

The Times of India

IHC to counter 'saffronised history'
PRANAVA K CHAUDHARY

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2004 02:38:01 PM ]
PATNA: Indian History Congress (IHC), a 
professional body of "progressive" historians, 
will now motivate its members, numbering more 
than 7,000 (mostly college teachers) to use 
"scientific tools" in history classrooms with an 
aim to counter the growing impact of "saffronised 
history".

The IHC will mainly focus on history teachers 
belonging to colleges in Hindi heartland located 
in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, 
Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.

IHC, in its 65th annual session to be held at 
Bareilly (UP) later this year, has for the first 
time decided to organise panel discussions on 
broad four aspects of the Indian history. Each 
panel discussion will be anchored by a panel of 
renowned historians like Irfan Habib and Bipan 
Chandra.

Topics of panel discussions will be on education 
in Indian history, state in Indian history, 
Persian text and medieval Indian history and 
Buddhism and early Indian history. Each panel 
discussion will be sponsored by agencies like 
Union HRD ministry, Aligarh Historians' Society 
(Aligarh) and Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public 
Library and Nav Nalanda Mahavihara (both in 
Bihar).

Besides, IHC members, mainly belonging to rural 
areas, will also be encouraged to send their 
research papers in Hindi medium so that it can be 
taken up at the annual session. Till recently, 
history scholars were only allowed to read their 
paper in English language only.

"This time we expect as many as 150 research 
papers from Bihar in the forthcoming IHC session 
at Bareilly," said IHC secretary Vijay K Thakur. 
According to a rough estimate, Bihar and UP still 
send one of the largest contingents of history 
teachers to the IHC session every year.

"Our main focus will be to propagate the 
"scientific technique and method" of teaching 
Indian history in various colleges in the 
country. IHC is the best platform in the 
country," Thakur told ToI on Thursday.

IHC session at Bareilly is likely to adopt some 
of the important resolutions related to the 
propagation of the scientific method in the 
teaching of Indian history in schools and 
colleges. Noted historian Sabyasachi Bhattacharya 
will be the general president of the IHC session 
at Bareilly.


______


[5]

APPEAL FOR GUJARAT STUDENT

I am sending this appeal on behalf of Patel Juned 
Mohammad Hanif Abdulmajit of Usmania Nagar, 
Lunawada, Panchmahals, Gujarat. Juned has just 
received admission into the Government 
Engineering College, Gandhinagar, and needs help 
with tuition and  living expenses.

During the Gujarat genocide of 2002, his father, 
who ran a small grocery shop, was severely 
injured. Later, while being taken to the 
hospital, he was lynched by a mob in the presence 
of the police. The shop was also completely burnt 
by the rioters. Junedís family consists of 
fourteen people, without any earning member. He 
is the eldest. Despite the tragic death of his 
father, the familyís pitiable financial condition 
and the hostile state environment, Juned managed 
to get 71% in his secondary school examination, 
and admission into engineering college. The 
monthly living expenses are estimated at Rs. 2400 
p.m. for four years, or Rs. 28,800 per year, and 
a total of Rs. 115,200 for the whole course.
Please contribute in whatever way you can. The 
cheques should be made out to: 'Anhad', 4 Windor 
Place, New Delhi 110001. The cheques should be 
made out in the name of ìAnhadî, but  marked on 
the back: 'for Juned scholarship'.

Thank you.
Nandini Sundar, Associate Professor
Centre for Law and Governance, JNU


______


[6]    Upcoming Events:

(i)


Meeting on Tuesday, October 19, 2004 at Indian Social
Institute, Lodhi Institutional Area, New Delhi at
5.00PM to discuss and decide on a common course of
action to mark the occasion.
*******************************************************
Dear friends,

As you are all keenly aware, November 1, 2004 marks 20
years of the terrible holocaust against the people of
the Sikh faith.

In these last twenty years, the Indian people have
been the victims of repeated acts of communal
massacres ñ be it Maliana and Bhiwandi, the communal
massacres that followed the demolition of the Babri
Masjid in 1992, or the Gujarat genocide of 2002.

We must not forget that India was partitioned in
August 1947 preceded and followed by the biggest
communal holocaust in the history of humankind. The
states that were created after Britain left India in
1947 are all inheritors of the British colonial Indian
state and the political parties that rule these
countries are products of the colonial Indian state.

In all acts of communal genocide, in November 1984 as
well as Gujarat, the demolition of the Babri Masjid
and the massacres that followed it, the central role
of the Indian state in the organising of these
massacres has been established beyond a shadow of
doubt.

It has also been noted that the communalisation of the
polity and the organising of communal genocide has
served those in power in disrupting the unity of the
toilers and tillers and paralysing them in the face of
the offensive of the ruling class. The communal
holocaust of 1947 and the partition of the country was
the biggest attack on the struggle of the Indian
peoples for independence accompanied by social
transformations. The 1984 holocaust against Sikhs
served to launch the anti-working class modernisation
program of the Indian ruling class. The demolition of
the Babri Masjid accompanied the First Generation
Reforms of the Narasimha Rao Government. The Gujarat
genocide was accompanied by the Second Generation
Reforms of the Vajpayee government. With the powers
that be committed to continuing on the anti-worker,
anti-peasant and anti-national course of
globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation, it
can only be expected that the Indian state will
organise even more dastardly massacres of the toiling
and oppressed people in future.

Therefore, when we mark the 20th anniversary of the
terrible holocaust against people of the Sikh faith,
we at the same time will need to address the following
issues.


	When the history of India since colonial times till
today is one of the state deliberately dividing the
polity along communal lines and organising communal
massacres to crush the toiling peoples, is it not
treachery on the part of those forces who portray the
Indian state and the Indian ruling class as ìsecularî,
blame the toilers and tillers for being communal, and
spread the notion that only the BJP is communal and
keeping the BJP out of power will ensure protection
for people from communal violence?


	What needs to be done to make the toilers and
tillers of India conscious that the bourgeoisie wields
the weapon of communalism and communal violence to
attack their struggle against the anti-social
offensive?


	How can the toilers and tillers of India ensure that
communalism and state organised communal violence will
be put to an end once and for all in India?

We invite you to a meeting on Tuesday, October 19,
2004 at Indian Social Institute, Lodhi Institutional
Area, New Delhi at 5.00PM to discuss and decide on a
common course of action to mark the occasion.

Kindly confirm your participation at the following
numbers/e-mail:
PK Shahi, AIFTU -  27490084
Narinder, IPF - 25269471
Bijju Nayak, Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha -
hnesabha at yahoo.com
Suchrita, LRS - 26389610, lokrajsangathan at yahoo.com



(ii)

PEOPLE'S MEDIA INITIATIVE

B-104, ACCORD APTS., LOKHANDWALA II CROSS LANE, 
ANDHERI (W), MUMBAI - 400 053. TEL: 022 26369677. 
Email: pmiright at yahoo.co.in

Press Conference cum Protest Meet

Sub: Press Conference cum Film Makers and various 
Cultural/ Social organisations of Mumbai has 
organised Protest Meet on Wednesday 20th October, 
2004 at 6: 30p.m. at Press Club, Near Azad 
Maidan, V.T., Mumbai to demand lifting ban on 
"Chords on the Ritcher Scale", a 45 minutes 
documentary on Kutch Earthquake 2001. The Film 
was banned during NDA Government rule and when 
Anupam Kher was Chairperson of Censor Board.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Big stalwarts are rallying around ousted Censor 
Board chief Anupam Kher but no film personality 
including Anupam Kher spoke a single word about 
Gujarat communal massacre or regretted the 
decision of the Censor Board to ban films like 
"Aakrosh" and "Final Solution" on Gujarat riots, 
"Aakrosh" was cleared after a long battle with 
NDA Government only to be cleared by Mumbai High 
Court and Anupam Kher cleared "Final Solution" 
only after change in Central Government to save 
his chair. During his period, "Chords on the 
Ritcher Scale" directed by Shyam Ranjankar 
produced by Vision Graphers and People's Media 
Intiative, a 45 minute gripping documentary made 
with 2 years of hard work on post earthquake 
situation in Kutch Gujarat, 2001. The Film speaks 
about discrimination against Dalits, minorities 
and underprivileged section of the society during 
relief and rehabilitation and the role played by 
communal organisation during the period. 
Examining Committee of Censor Board banned the 
Film in June 2003 and the ban was uphold by 
Revising Committee because it makes passing 
reference to RSS and VHP and Anupam Kher who is a 
non RSS person, secular and democrat, did nothing 
about it. He was just not available to meet us 
also.

We are made to believe that all bigwigs from Film 
Industry , those who joined BJP and became MP's 
are  really secular and Democrat and ignorant 
about Gujarat riots and activities of VHP-RSS, 
which are close to BJP.

We are meeting to condemn Censor Board and 
previous NDA Government for banning the Films 
like "Chords on the Ritcher Scale", "Final 
Solution", "Aakrosh" and to urge present 
Government clear this Film and stop political 
censorship and also to release a Film made by 
Prakash Jha for Doordarshan on Jai Prakash 
Narayan. Press Conference will be held on 
Wednesday 20th October 2004, at 6:30p.m. at Press 
Club, Near Azad Maidan, V.T. Station, Mumbai.

Press Release By,
Ramesh Pimple, Jatin Desai
& Shyam Ranjanka
For People's Media Initiative.


(iii)


Seminar on 'Women's Movement for the 21 st Century'

Greetings !
Each year, Stree Adhikar Sangathan ( WRO- Women's 
Rights Organisation) organizes an intensive 
three-day workshop for its members to encourage 
collective thinking, learn from experiences, 
improve theoretical understanding, review 
activities and plan for the future. Apart from 
those who are involved with WRO throughout the 
year, we benefit tremendously from knowledge and 
experiences of our friends who help us in this 
workshop as resource persons. Earlier WRO 
workshops have been held in Allahabad (2000), 
Delhi (2001),  Lucknow (2002) and Varanasi (2003).

As part of this workshop, we also organize a one 
day public event on an issue of current 
relevance. Topics of earlier public events were 
on Women on the Threshold of Transition ( 2000), 
Women in the Context of Indian Culture and 
Civilization ( 2001), Our Culture and Communalism 
(2002) and Women and Communalism (2003).

This year we plan to hold the public event on the 
first day of the workshop itself i.e. on October 
21st, 2004 to discuss and debate on Women's 
Movement for the 21 st Century. Few leading 
scholar-activists of the women's movement have 
agreed to join us for the deliberations and share 
with us their concerns. Prof.Uma Chakravory, Dr 
Saroop Dhruv, Prof Zoya Hasan, Dr. Nivedita Menon 
and Dr Mary John have already confirmed their 
participation.

We will be happy if you can join us for the 
seminar which would be held at 1 p.m. on 21 st 
October 2004 at Mobile Creches office ( Behind 
Shivaji Stadium-  Sector 4, DIZ area, Raja 
bazaar, New Delhi 110001, Ph. 23347635)

Waiting to hear from you
Stree Adhikar Sangathan
( Contact : 011-27872835 / 9891170909/ 0532 -2552324)



(iv)

"In the Wake of the Gujarat Pogrom:  Reflections on Contemporary India"
Saturday, November 13, 2004 
1:30 - 4:30PM 
University Hall, Room 1000
Loyola Marymount University
1 LMU Drive, Los Angeles, California 90045
                           
                                                
An afternoon with Harsh Mander of ANHAD

Harsh Mander was serving in Gujarat as a senior 
Indian Civil Service Official during the Gujarat 
Riots of 2002.  He had a close view of the way in 
which senior civil service officers, police and 
even medical officers were co-opted by or 
contrived with the political regime.  He resigned 
in protest and went public with his criticism. He 
has written extensively on Gujarat including a 
collection of essays entitled "Cry, My Beloved 
Country: Reflections on the Gujarat Carnage" and 
the book "Unheard Voices: Stories of Forgotten 
Lives."

Harsh has worked with victims of the 1984 Sikh 
massacres, with the Dalits of Delhi, the 
displaced of the Narmada Dam and rickshaw 
pullers, tribals and sex workers of India. He is 
currently associated with ANHAD (Act Now for 
Harmony and Democracy for justice) an NGO working 
with the marginalized and dispossessed.   He was 
given the M.A. Thomas National Human Rights Award 
in 2002.  

During the program, excerpts from Rakesh Sharma's 
acclaimed film on Gujarat, 'Final Solution' 
(2004) will be shown and Harsh will discuss the 
events of Gujarat 2002, state of Indian 
minorities, National & State elections and the 
recently published Census, etc. A question and 
answer session to follow. 

Sponsors: South Asia Forum, South Asian Network & 
Coalition for an Egalitarian & Pluralistic India. 
A donation of $5 is requested but no one will be 
turned away for lack of funds.

Directions:
From Valley/Downtown:  Take San Diego (405) FWY 
south. Exit on Jefferson Blvd (W) and turn right; 
Left on Lincoln and left on LMU Dr.
From Orange County: Take San Diego (405) FWY 
North to 105 FWY West. Exit on Sepulveda Blvd 
(Airport Exit) and go about 2 miles merge left on 
Lincoln Blvd and turn right on LMU Dr. towards 
the beach.

University Hall will be the first Bldg on the 
right, enter the underground parking structure 
from the second entrance and take the elevator to 
Room 1000. Plenty of free covered parking 
available.

For more information please contact: Robin 
Khundkar (714) 895-5048; Asha Shahed 
310-377-8472; John Ishvardas-Abdallah (310) 
748-9369; Asad Zaidi (714) 313-2703.


_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

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/
SACW archive is available at:  bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/

Sister initiatives :
South Asia Counter Information Project :  snipurl.com/sacip
South Asians Against Nukes: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org
Communalism Watch: communalism.blogspot.com/

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